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Caspofungin and flucytosine were the active antifungals against C. glabrata, while fluconazole was least active. Isolates with high level resistance to fluconazole demonstrated reduced susceptibility to voriconazole.
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Host factors are the major determinants of the outcomes of C. meningosepticum infections. Lin and colleagues describe 9 adults (40-82 years of age) and 2 children (0.5 and 1.5 years of age) seen at 2 hospitals in Taiwan from 2001 to 2002 with bacteremia due to Chrysobacterium meningosepticum. Six of the infections were community acquired.
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The Binax NOW chromatographic assay was found to be the optimal method for detection of RSV in upper respiratory secretions of children, while DFA testing was optimal in adults.
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Hepatitis C infection is usually asymptomatic, but with insidious progression. This paper from Poland features the outcomes of a series of patients with acute hepatitis C in order to determine the resolution or progression of disease.
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Isolated pulmonic valve endocarditis is the topic of an interesting article from the Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Hamza and colleagues reported 3 of their own cases, involving men ages 47, 64, and 76, none of whom were intravenous drug addicts (IVDA). In 2 of the patients, Enterococcus faecalis was the causative pathogen, and in the other patient, a coagulase-negative staphylococcus was the pathogen.
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Rifaximin (Xifaxan) has rreceived US FDA approval on May 25, 2004, for the treatment of travelers diarrhea caused by enteropathogenic (non-invasive) Eschericiha coli in individuals at least 12 years of age. Rifaximin is a rifamycin that is poorly absorbed (< 0.4%) from the gastrointestinal tract, and thus achieves very high concentrations in the feces.
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Erythromycin use is associated with a 2-fold increased risk of sudden cardiac death and a 5-fold increase in those who concurrently receive other medications that significantly inhibit its metabolism by CYP3A4.
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Five days of oral treatment with azithromycin appeared to be at least as effective as a similar duration of treatment of treatment with ceftriaxone in children in Cairo with typhoid fever.
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Sources of funding for pharmaceutical research has come under scrutiny in the last decade as academic and government sources of funding have become increasingly scarce and the pharmaceutical industry has become the main source of research dollars. But the issue of objectivity has been raised, and some have even suggested that negative studies, that is studies that show a drug in an unfavorable light, may never be published. The American Medical Association has recently tackled this issue and has asked the department of Health and Human Services to establish a public registry of all clinical trials in United States.
