Infectious Disease Alert 2006-03-01

Update On Moxifloxacin (Avelox): Potential Interaction with Warfarin and Cardiac Rhythm Safety

Adverse drug events (ADES) are unwanted consequences of drug therapy and have important implications for each patient, the treating physician, and the institution itself. When assessing adverse effects, prescribing healthcare workers should pay particular attention to ADEs that interrupt the patients therapeutic regimen and hence increase the patients length of stay in the hospital.

Abacavir/Tenofovir- and Didanosine/Tenofovir-Regimens

The first article reports the results of an industry-sponsored clinical trial comparing TDF/ABC/3TC vs EFV/ABC/3TC in treatment-naïve patients. Three hundred forty patients were randomized. Baseline characteristics including CD4 count and HIV RNA level were similar between the arms.

An Upgraded Blood Test That Identifies Tuberculous Infection

Tuberculin skin testing is a crude procedure, fraught with potential error at every step, from application to interpretation, and requires 2 visits to a health care provider. Its use has persisted, nonetheless, because it remained, until recently, the only means of detection of latent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

S. aureus: The Nose Knows

Samples obtained by swabbing both nares of almost 10,000 individuals > 1 year of age in the US National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) in 2001-2002 were cultured on mannitol salt agar. S. aureus was identified in 32.4% of subjects and 0.8% were colonized with methicillin resistant S. aureus(MRSA).

That Which Bends Up

More than 5000 people in the Comoros Islands, off the eastern coast of Africa and near Madagascar, became ill with high fever and severe joint paints in the first months of 2005.

Of Mice and Men and Streptococci

Microbiologists have been trying for years to make an effective vaccine against infections caused by the Group A Streptococcus (GAS). The best hope has been a vaccine that targets the outer carbohydrate (CHO) coat, since antibodies to these antigens increase with age and there is less GAS disease as humans age.

Updates by Carol A Kemper

Following the tragedy on the Jamarat Bridge at Hajj in January 2006, many travel advisors felt the need to re-double their efforts in providing better travel advice. While it is widely acknowledged that this advice is inconsistently followed, this recent tragedy, and the rise of adventure travel, especially among younger travelers, raises an interestingÀ

Pharmacology Watch: Treating Opioid-Dependent Patients with OAT

Long-Term Effects of Warfarin Use; Statins Multiple Benefits; FDA Actions

Infectious Disease Alert – March 1, 2006

March 1, 2006