Volume 72, Issue 7, 1 April 2021

We have identified the first case of a European haplotype Echinococcus multilocularis in the United States. Given the recent identification of this haplotype in Canada, this may be an emerging infectious disease in North America.

Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex, M. kansasii, and M. abscessus were the most common cause of pulmonary Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Disease (NTM). Mangement of pulmonary NTM was heterogenous and cure rate was low. Adherence to ATS/IDSA guidelines and follow-up of selected patients without treatment are important.

We describe T-cell reconstitution postallogeneic stem cell transplantation in 6 people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) compared to 21 controls without HIV. We observed a significantly elevated CD8+ T-cell expansion post-Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant in recipients with HIV. The nature and specificity of the CD8+ T-cell population differed among individuals.

During the 4 influenza seasons beginning in 2013–2014, trivalent and quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccines provided equivalent protection against any influenza B illness in the United States, while quadrivalent vaccines provided better protection against the added B virus lineage.

Pregnant women with Multidrug/Rifampicin-resistant-tuberculosis can be effectively and safely treated. We observed a relationship between the use of bedaquiline and low birth weight, but the clinical importance of this finding is unclear.

Rickettsial disease is an important and poorly recognized cause of illness in travelers, specifically when an inoculation eschar is absent. A lower threshold to test and treat is warranted in returning travelers with febrile illness, regardless of eschar presence.

Treatment of acute pelvic inflammatory disease with ceftriaxone, doxycycline, and metronidazole is associated with significantly less frequent recovery of anaerobic organisms from the upper genital tract, decreased Mycoplasma genitalium, and improved clinical response compared to ceftriaxone and doxycycline.

We identified 92 adults with Varicella Zoster Virus encephalitis primarily affecting elderly or immunocompromised patients. Diagnosis and treatment are often delayed; cerebral vasculitis is not uncommon (16%). Risk factors for unfavorable outcome are age, cerebral vasculitis, and Glasgow Coma Scale score <15.

Thirteen-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine led to a decline in pneumococcal and all-cause bacterial conjunctivitis. As with observations in otitis media, reduction occurred also in diseases caused by nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae, suggesting its interaction with pneumococcus in conjunctivitis pathogenesis.

This systematic review regarding the epidemiology of Escherichia coli bacteremia in high-income countries shows that the disease burden is greatest in the elderly, and that most episodes have a community onset and result from urinary tract infection.

Sepsis disproportionately affects hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients, but clinical criteria currently recommended in sepsis detection have not been validated in these patients. We demonstrate the limited predictive value of commonly used clinical criteria among HCT recipients with suspected infections.

Cardiac surgery patients with invasive Mycobacterium abscessus complex infection received aggressive and prolonged medical and surgical therapy. However, patients with these infections experienced substantial morbidity and mortality. Novel treatment strategies are needed, and close attention to infection prevention remains paramount.

Costs of investigator-initiated trials are lower than those of industry-sponsored trials. We present our viewpoint on the sources of these costs and compare trials’ aims and methods. We propose a greater role for academic clinical trials networks, especially for antibiotic development.

We propose a minimum set of trial characteristics and results to be released simultaneously with clinical trial announcements.

In patients with symptoms suspicious of cryptococcal meningitis (CM) associated with human immunodeficiency virus, a positive serum cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) is highly presumptive of culture-confirmed CM and a positive cerebrospinal fluid CrAg is diagnostic of a first episode of CM.

Data suggests 2-deoxy-2-[¹⁸F]fluoro-D-glucose–positron emission tomography/computed tomography is a useful imaging technique for the evaluation of fever of unknown origin as it improves diagnostic efficiency and reduces costs. Clinicians should consider this useful tool when preliminary studies are unrevealing.

In this ecological study using a nationwide notifiable diseases database and a sample surveillance, implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions was associated with significantly lower incidences of chickenpox, mumps, and respiratory virus infections compared with the prediction model or the preintervention period.