Volume 9, Issue 11, November 2022

Among patients with multiple myeloma who received anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody-based treatment the relative risk for infection was 1.27, with a 28% incidence of severe infection. Consequently, we describe the importance of surveillance and prophylactic strategies across our studied patient population.

TB cases aged ≥65 years old were more likely to have noncavitary disease, negative diagnostic tests, treatment noncompletion, and death. Cases with dementia had 5-times higher odds of noncompletion. Further interventions are needed to improve treatment completion and outcomes.

Various misdiagnoses have occurred during the H1N1 and COVID-19 pandemics, with the most common being lower respiratory tract infection. There was some evidence of resulting harm. Despite insufficient information to recommend measures against misdiagnosis, we offer investigations to consider.

This article describes how antimicrobials are regulated and used in US animal agriculture and highlights realities, challenges, and opportunities to foster multidisciplinary understanding of the common goal of responsible antimicrobial use.

This article describes the infectious complications of abortion, both spontaneous and induced. Infectious disease specialists are likely to see increasing numbers of septic abortions because of recent court decisions that limit access to safe, legal, abortion care.

IgA serology has potential to address the unmet need of rapid, accurate, and noninvasive MAC disease diagnosis and monitoring to be used routinely in the clinical setting in different patient populations.

In a multi-centre prospective cohort study of viral co-infection in hospitalised COVID-19 patients using unbiased systematic PCR testing, co-infection was rare during the first 18 months of the pandemic, with no observed association between viral co-infection and disease severity.

Although overall antimicrobial resistance (AMR) rates were largely comparable before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, rates were higher among SARS-CoV-2–positive admissions with hospital-onset setting. Greater use of antimicrobial therapy and inadequate empiric therapy were associated with higher AMR.

An integrated infectious disease and antimicrobial stewardship telehealth service improved Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia management and outcomes at 16 small community hospitals. These findings provide important insight for other IDt programs.

Evaluation of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen blood test from our longitudinally sampled cohort suggests that it is a highly sensitive test for detecting early infectious viral shedding, making it a viable screening test for community-dwelling individuals to inform isolation practices.

We found a high prevalence of liver steatosis among people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy in Switzerland. In addition to well known risk factors such as age, ethnicity, and obesity, the use of tenofovir alafenamide was associated with hepatic steatosis.

Cardiac implantable electronic device infective endocarditis (CIED-IE) episodes increased >4-fold during the last 40 years. In the 2 most recent decades, despite CIED-IE involving an older population with more comorbidities, antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, and complex devices, 1-year survival has improved.

The diagnosis is often challenging to establish in necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs). Diagnostic tools are needed for patient management. Based on interrater reliability on staging and accuracy, tissue biopsies are not recommended for routine diagnostics in NSTI management.

We evaluated factors associated with positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis samples in children under 5 years old and found immunological evidence of M. tuberculosis infection, history of exposure with a tuberculosis patient, and prolonged lethargy were associated with a positive sample.

The accumulation of susceptible children resulted in a resurgence of RSV, but the increase in hospitalized patients aged ≥2 years was modest. Our results suggest that the majority of primary RSV infections after infancy do not lead to severe symptoms.

Repeat blood cultures were low-yield in persistent febrile neutropenia. Implementation of a clinical practice guideline change and educational intervention led to a reduction in repeat blood cultures in non–stem cell transplant hematology-oncology patients with persistent febrile neutropenia.

A systematic review identified 4 studies suggesting no clinical benefit of either adjunctive gentamicin or rifampin in staphylococcal prosthetic valve endocarditis. Rifampin was associated with longer hospitalizations and frequent adverse events requiring treatment discontinuation.

Even mild SARS-CoV-2 infection not requiring hospitalization was associated with the development/progression of interstitial lung abnormalities in individuals undergoing repeat chest computed tomography scans, indicating that even mild SARS-CoV-2 infections have a modest impact on radiographic changes.

Influenza vaccination during pregnancy prevented influenza-associated hospitalizations among young infants when infected with influenza vaccine strains, and among women without HIV, although, no effect was detected in women living with HIV.

Daptomycin-induced eosinophilic pneumonia is a rare serious adverse event in patients with osteoarticular infections treated with daptomycin. Current definitions are too restrictive. We propose a new algorithm considering old criteria, but also blood eosinophilia and specific CT scan findings.

Young adulthood is a vulnerable period, with increased risk for virological failure (VF), especially for perinatally people with hiv (PWH). In our study, the probability of VF decreased over time, but less for perinatally PWH as compared to non-perinatally PWH.

Our analysis of Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination database reveals that the prognosis of patients with Japanese Spotted Fever is worse if tetracycline administration is delayed

Antiretroviral therapy uptake was evaluated in HPTN 071 (PopART). Over 70% of people with HIV were on ART after 2 years of study implementation. Universal testing and treatment was not significantly associated with increased ART uptake in this cohort.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a significant source of morbidity among children, though incidence rates decrease by as much as 95% by age 5. While affecting older children, RSV's strong association with age suggests interventions will be most impactful if targeting young children.

Cross-reactivity of non-Histoplasma fungal antigen assays is common in patients with proven histoplasmosis. Clinicians should maintain knowledge of clinical presentations and epidemiology of various invasive fungal infections and be aware of the limitations of these nonspecific antigen tests.

Using a combined genomic and epidemiologic approach, we found that most healthcare personnel (HCP) SARS-CoV-2 infections were acquired from the community and from other sick HCP. We did not find strong evidence to support patient-to-HCP infection.

LD and babesiosis are major tickborne illnesses in the United States. In a large national database analysis, hospitalized babesiosis patients had a higher severity index, longer inpatient stays, and greater associated admission costs than hospitalized patients with LD.

Mycoplasma genitalium is very prevalent in West Africa among MSM using HIV PrEP. Macrolide resistance was very rare, but ParC 83/87 mutations were frequently detected (11.3%). Between-country heterogeneity may be explained by different patterns of antimicrobial consumption in humans and animals.

Using the Active Implementation Framework for planning, telemedicine infectious diseases consultation was found to be feasible, acceptable, and appropriate at a rural hospital. Telemedicine infectious diseases consultation improved fidelity to treatment guidelines.

A 7-day course of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir started in the preoperative period prevented transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) from viremic donors to 10 HCV-negative recipients (2 heart, 1 lung, 6 kidney, 1 heart/kidney) with 100% sustained virological response at 12 weeks.

After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, mass gatherings this summer will be highly attended. We estimate more than one secondary monkeypox case per infectious person depending on his/her contacts in such events. Early recognition and engaging affected populations are needed.