Infectious Disease Alert – August 1, 2025

Contaminated Pediatric Blood Cultures

Falsely positive (contaminated) blood culture samples lead to unnecessary antimicrobial use, excessive testing, prolonged hospitalizations, and increased healthcare costs. In pediatric settings, the greatest risk of blood culture contamination is with infants younger than 1 year of age and with children in emergency department settings.

Effects of COVID-19 on Antimicrobial Resistance in U.S. Hospitals

In a retrospective cohort study, researchers found that antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) infections increased during the COVID-19 pandemic from 182 to 193 per 10,000 hospitalizations. Recent antibiotic exposure, increased illness severity, and comorbidities were associated with AMR infections.

Second BCG Dose to Prevent Tuberculosis in Adolescents

Despite a previous study raising the hope that giving Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine to adolescents who previously had received BCG as newborns would better prevent sustained tuberculosis (TB) infections, a new study conclusively demonstrates that revaccination with BCG during adolescence has no statistically significant effect on the incidence of subsequent TB infection or sustained positivity of interferon gamma receptor assay tests.

In Vitro Activity of Newer Antibiotics Against CREs in the United States

The activity of newer beta-lactam/beta-lactamase combination antibiotics depends on the specific type of carbapenemase carried by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales.

Fecal Microbiota Transplant as First-Line Therapy for Primary C. difficile Infection

In a randomized controlled trial conducted in Norway, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was noninferior to vancomycin for the treatment of primary Clostridioides difficile infection, with 66.7% of patients in the FMT group achieving clinical cure without recurrence compared to 61.2% in the vancomycin group over 60 days of follow-up.

Infectious Disease Updates

Do Gowns Help Prevent Transmission of Respiratory Viruses? How to Assess the ‘Wobble’ in Your IGRA?