Infectious Disease Alert – December 1, 2012

December 1, 2012

• The Positive Impact of Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Pediatrics

  In the first report (Newland et al), a quasi-experimental study with a control group (also known as a nonrandomized, postintervention design) was performed from 20042010 to determine the impact of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) implemented in March, 2008 in a tertiary care children's hospital that was based on prospective-audit-with-feedback.

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• Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Developing World: A Real Possibility?

  Effective antimicrobial stewardship is of particular importance in the developing world. In many developing countries, inappropriate antimicrobial use has led to widespread drug resistance among not only bacterial isolates, but also among parasites and other infectious agents.

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• Successful Decrease in Therapy Duration for Community-Acquired Pneumonia

  One of the unintended consequences of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) performance measures for CAP was that clinicians often started antibiotics too quickly in patients without infection. Subsequently, the requirement that antibiotics be initiated within 6 hours of patient presentation was retired as of January 1, 2012.

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• IDWeek 2012: Antimicrobial Stewardship in Special Populations and Circumstances

  A remarkably large number of presentations at IDWeek held in San Diego October 17-21, 2012, dealt directly with issues of antimicrobial stewardship. These included aspects such as documenting the frequency of inappropriate antibiotic use in various settings together with descriptions of successful interventions.

  Read more about IDWeek 2012: Antimicrobial Stewardship in Special Populations and Circumstances - Infectious Disease Alert – December 1, 2012

• Putting a 'LID' on Antibiotic Use in Long-term Care Settings

  There are very little data on antibiotic stewardship in LTCF. This work (Jump et al.) came from a Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) demonstration project at the Cleveland VA Medical Center. The LID was a LTCF Infectious Disease team that provided on site consultations.

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• Pharmacology Watch: Menopausal Hormone Therapy and the Risk for VTE, AD

  The different drug formulations of menopausal hormone therapy (HT) may determine the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), according to a new study. It is known that combined estrogen-progesterone therapy has a higher risk of VTE than estrogen-only therapy, and oral therapy has a higher risk than transdermal therapy.

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• Clinical Briefs in Primary Care supplement

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