Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI)

Editor-in-chief, Jason C. Gallagher, PharmD, FCCP, FIDSA, BCPS, shares how it is up to all of us in health care to evaluate the level of evidence in our practices and continue to evolve, just like the organisms we work to treat.

Because of the recent concern in the United States around the rise of resistant pathogens, intravenous fosfomycin has gained renewed interest because of its activity and demonstrated synergy with other classes of antibiotics.

The system allows for the rapid identification of bacteria directly from positive blood cultures, and can determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of the blood-borne pathogens.

Use of the FDA–cleared Accelerate Pheno blood culture detection system can shorten the time required to analyze patients’ blood samples leading to improved clinical outcomes, according to the results of a recent study.

Key considerations when choosing a treatment for gram-negative nosocomial infections include the patient’s referring facility.

A new report from the CDC shows substantial progress on the incidence of health care-associated infections in the United States, but there is still more work to be done.

Stay up-to-date on the latest infectious disease news by checking out our top 5 articles of the week.

Hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia account for 22% of all hospital-acquired infections.

A new report highlights technologies with potential to prevent and reduce global catastrophic biological risks.

Probiotic Bacillus found to eliminate colonies of S aureus in mouse models and was associated with a lack of S aureus in human samples.

The drug presents a new option for patients at high risk of infections caused by organisms, such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

Jason Pogue, PharmD, BCPS-AQID, discusses the need for real-world data to support Ceftolozane/tazobactam and shares the findings of his comparative study on using the regimen to treat MDR/XDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

George Thompson, MD, principal investigator of the STRIVE study discusses optimal dosing for rezafungin in treating candidemia and/or invasive candidiasis.

Dale N Gerding, MD, provides insight about prevention options for C diff that are expected in the future.

Contamination is a common aspect of nasal saline irrigations.

Nimish Patel, PharmD, PhD, describes his study, which compared fidaxomicin with oral vancomycin in early targeted therapy of C diff.

Scientists sought to figure out whether rapid diagnostic tests could be used to determine the susceptibility of P aeruginosa to 2 new therapies. The answer was yes, but with caveats.

Yoav Golan, MD, discusses the paradigm shift occurring in treatment for ABSSSI and how to motivate clinicians to buy into new programs and protocols.

Duodenoscopes are at fault for another infectious disease outbreak, and this time it's with a highly-resistant bacteria.

The program calls for new research and development incentives, veterinary stewardship, and enhanced surveillance.

Barbara Wells Trautner, MD, PhD, explains how overtreating asymptomatic bacteriuria can lead to antibiotic resistance or incorrect diagnoses.

Ceftolozane and tazobactam proves noninferior to meropenem in a pivotal phase 3 trial of adult patients with HABP or VABP.

Common skin bacteria have gained resistance to multiple antibiotics.

A new study is the first to identify eosinophil counts as a predictor of outcomes in human patients.

Julie Ann Justo, PharmD, MS, BCPS-AQ ID, explains how rapid diagnostics interplay with prediction scores in antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Stay up-to-date on the latest infectious disease news by checking out our top 5 articles of the week.

Investigators find telavancin has potent in vitro activity and low resistance development potential when used against S aureus isolates in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Additional evidence supports the use of oritavancin as a cost-saving outpatient treatment for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSTIs) in patients who would otherwise be admitted to the hospital for therapy.

Can we find an alternative for chlorhexidine gluconate?

Stay up-to-date on the latest infectious disease news by checking out our top 5 articles of the week.