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Infectious Disease Alert Updates

Utility of GI Multiplex Assay; ‘The World Is Covered by a Thin Layer of Feces’

Why IDSA Did Not Support the Surviving Sepsis Campaign

The Infectious Diseases Society of America withheld its support for the Surviving Sepsis guidelines. The general concerns included vagueness and inconsistency in definition of sepsis, “one size fits all” prescription of time to administer antibiotics, lack of clarity around drawing blood cultures through IV catheters, recommendation of combination antibiotics, lack of definition around when to use procalcitonin levels, when and how to use pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data effectively, prolonged antibiotic “prophylaxis,” and duration of therapy.

Oral Antibiotics May Increase the Risk for Nephrolithiasis

A case-control study found that receipt of an oral antibiotic in the preceding three to 12 months was associated with nephrolithiasis. The risk persisted up to five years, and younger patients were at increased risk.

Reduced Noninfectious Adverse Events After Discontinuation of Contact Precautions in Patients Colonized or Infected With MRSA and/or VRE

Discontinuation of contact precautions for patients colonized or infected with either MRSA or VRE is associated with a decrease in rates of noninfectious adverse events.

VRE and MRSA: Time to Assign Contact Precautions to the Dust Heap of History

In the context of other horizontally implemented, effective infection prevention measures, the use of contact precautions for most patients colonized or infected with MRSA or VRE fails to provide benefit.

Rotavirus Vaccine and Intussusception

Using active surveillance, researchers enrolled 717 infants with intussusception from sub-Saharan Africa. The risk of intussusception was no higher in those who received the monovalent rotavirus vaccine than in non-immunized infants.

Antibiotic Use in Infancy Associated With Allergic Disease During Childhood

In a large population-based study, antibiotic use during the first six months of life was associated with a two-fold increase in asthma and a 1.5-fold increase in allergic disease during early childhood.

Simple Prediction Tool Facilitates Diagnosis of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction

In patients with unexplained dyspnea, a score based on six noninvasive criteria can predict the likelihood of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Mortality Risk Score for Degenerative Mitral Regurgitation

An international database of patients with significant degenerative mitral valve regurgitation was used to derive and test a score using clinical and echocardiographic data to estimate mortality with medical and surgical therapy. From seven weighted characteristics, investigators developed a 0-12 score that predicted medical and surgical long-term mortality with high discriminatory ability (C-statistic, 0.78 and 0.81, respectively). Investigators found the score added incremental information to surgical scores and believe that it will be useful for therapeutic decision-making.

Long-term Risk of Transient Atrial Fibrillation After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Investigators compared post-coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) atrial fibrillation (AF) to non-surgical, non-valvular AF in a large cohort derived from the Danish health system database. Despite a lower rate of oral anticoagulant use compared to non-valvular AF patients and equivalent CHA₂DS₂-VASc scores, post-CABG AF demonstrated a lower risk of thromboembolism, death, and recurrent AF. These data do not support the concept that post-CABG AF is the same as traditional non-valvular AF regarding thromboembolic risk.