Infectious Disease Alert – July 1, 2012
July 1, 2012
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Diagnosis and Treatment of Influenza: Rapid Tests and Antiviral Options
Recent ACIP recommendations for the management of influenza virus infections include: "1) early antiviral treatment of suspected or confirmed influenza among persons with severe influenza (e.g., those who have severe, complicated, or progressive illness or who require hospitalization); 2) early antiviral treatment of suspected or confirmed influenza among persons at higher risk for influenza complications; and 3) either oseltamivir or zanamivir for persons with influenza caused by 2009 H1N1 virus, influenza A (H3N2) virus, or influenza B virus or when the influenza virus type or influenza A virus subtype is unknown; 4) oseltamivir may be used for treatment or chemoprophylaxis of influenza among infants aged <1 year when indicated; 5) local influenza testing and influenza surveillance data, when available, to help guide treatment decisions; and 6) consideration of antiviral treatment for outpatients with confirmed or suspected influenza who do not have known risk factors for severe illness, if treatment can be initiated within 48 hours of illness onset." -
Lessons from the 2009 Pandemic Flu Experience
Jain and colleagues at the U.S. CDC evaluated the characteristics of 195 hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza influenza A pdm09 (pH1N1) infection who had pneumonia, comparing them to hospitalized flu patients without pneumonia. -
Staphylococcus aureus Virulence — how the Alpha Hemolysin Damages the Host
A wild type Newman strain of S.aureus and the hemolysin-deficient Newman strain hla::erm were studied in wild-type mice and Nlrp3-/- and IL1r1-/- mice. -
Streptococcus suis a Cause of Human Meningitis: Another Emerging Pig Pathogen
In addition to increasing the risk of acquiring swine flu, kissing pigs could now be associated with another serious disease. Streptococcus suis meningitis is considered an emerging infectious disease, although cases of systemic infection have been described since 1954 in veterinarians. -
Iron Deficiency Protects against Severe Malaria,
785 Tanzanian children living in an area of high malaria endemicity were intensely monitored for parasitemia and other illness from birth to 3 years of age. The degree of parasitemia was determined by number of parasites/200 WBC's on thick smear. Severe malaria was defined by WHO criteria. -
Conjugate Pneumococcal Vaccine and Adults
Prevnar 13 (PCV13), a 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which had been available for pediatric use since 2010, was approved at the end of 2011 by the FDA for the prevention of pneumonia and invasive disease caused by included serotypes in adults 50 years of age and older. -
Updates by Carol A. Kemper, MD, FACP
HIV Risk Triplesin Women with an STD Mlisana K, et al. Symptomatic vaginal discharge is a poor predictor of sexually transmitted infections and genital tract inflammation in high-risk women in South Africa. J Infect Dis 2012;206:6-14. Classical sexually transmitted diseases drive the spread of HIV-1: Back to the future. J Infect Dis 2012;206:1-2. -
Pharmacology Update: Does Azithromycin Cause Cardiovascular Death?
In this issue: Azithromycin and cardiac risk; warfarin and heart failure; aspirin and VTE; effectiveness of long-acting contraceptives; and FDA actions. -
Clinical Briefs in Primary Care supplement