Kenneth Bender, PharmD, MA

Implementation of CMS Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Management Bundle did not reduce mortality rates in study of 114 hospitals.

No influenza-related hospitalizations of children were found in a nationwide study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 20/21 flu season.

Clinical trial compares immunogenicity of mixing mRNA, adenoviral and spike-adjuvant vaccines in 2-dose series against COVID-19.

A booster dose of the m-RNA vaccine reduced COVID-19 and the rates of severe illness across adult age groups.

Neonatal vancomycin trial found loading with more frequent dosing over shorter time comparable to standard regimen but adversely affected hearing.

Inhaled ciclesonide did not shorten duration of mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19 in outpatients, but lessened hospitalizations.

The report on antimicrobial resistance finds new therapeutics are "essential to future of clinical medicine" but may not be viable in present market.

The report assesses progress of a US national action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance, called for by 2015 World Health Assembly.

In the second installment discussing this report, the authors point out that the approval of new diagnostics can help facilitate better stewardship.

The National Academies report reviews several challenges, and ways to overcome them for optimal antimicrobial stewardship.

The latest National Immunization Survey-Child, for children born in 2017- 2018, reveals different rates of vaccination by demographic and disease.

PASC (postacute sequelae of COVID-19) was found to persist for at least 6 months in more than half of those contracting the infection.

New survey finds little more than half of US adults are planning to obtain vaccination against influenza despite urging by health officials.

New clinical trial is first to describe concomitant administration of any vaccine with either an adenoviral vector or mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

A third dose booster vaccination given to persons 60 years of age or over in Israel was confirmed to lower their rate of COVID-19 infection compared to a 2-dose regimen.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) VISION Network of health care systems provided data for test-negative design analysis of vaccine effectiveness in preventing COVID-19 acute admissions.

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines provoke different levels of antibody response within and between age groups.

Islatravir exerts multiple mechanisms against HIV, demonstrates treatment effectiveness with doravirine, and is a potential weekly or monthly oral PrEP.

Persons living with HIV are susceptible to TB and also appear at increased risk for infecting strains acquiring rifampicin-resistance.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces single injection of monoclonal antibody against the Plasmodium mosquito-borne parasite prevented malaria throughout 9 month phase 1 trial.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announces the Solidarity PLUS platform trial of drugs repurposed to treat COVID-19 after Solidarity trial candidates disappoint.

Three international trials combine data to find optimal heparin dosing against hypercoagulability and thrombosis in patients with COVID-19.

Reviewers attribute less severe COVID-19 symptoms in patients with HIV and low CD4 count to reduced capacity for immune reactions including cytokine storm.

A seven-day course of antibiotics was as effective as 14 days in treating urinary tract infection in afebrile men.

Asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 cases among health care personnel were reduced after vaccination despite surge in infected patients.

Exposure to antibiotics in childhood was found to have small effect on trajectory of body mass index milestones.

Providing "social normative feedback" to physicians succeeded in lowering antibiotic treatment duration and cost, with less effect on prescription volume.

Increased respiratory viral testing for COVID-19 and Influenza could have contributed to improved antibiotic prescribing for respiratory symptoms.

The course of COVID-19 illness was likely to be less severe than of influenza in a study of hospitalized children.

Investigators in Brazil attribute Trichosporon asahii fungemia in critically ill COVID-19 patients to “overexposure” to antibiotics and corticosteroids.