Microbial Dynamics and Pulmonary Immune Responses in COVID-19 Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia

Secondary bacterial pneumonia (2°BP) is associated with significant morbidity following respiratory viral infection, yet remains incompletely understood. In a prospective cohort of 112 critically ill adults intubated... read more

AKI Risk Factors in ICU Patients Using Colistin

AKI Risk Factors in ICU Patients Using Colistin

Colistin, an antibiotic of polymyxin group, has recently been increasingly used in the treatment of multidrug resistant gram-negative bacteria. However, it has serious adverse effects such as acute kidney injury (AKI). We... read more

Effect of Mechanical Ventilation Under Intubation on Respiratory Tract Change of Bacterial Count

Effect of Mechanical Ventilation Under Intubation on Respiratory Tract Change of Bacterial Count

Mechanical ventilation under intubation may cause dysregulation of lower respiratory microbiota in rats. The most common 'second strike' in mechanically ventilated patients is a pulmonary infection caused by the ease with... read more

COVID-19-associated Sepsis: Incidence and Mortality

COVID-19-associated Sepsis: Incidence and Mortality

In this retrospective cohort study of hospitalized adults, SARS-CoV-2 accounted for approximately 1 in 6 cases of sepsis during the first 33 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In-hospital mortality rates for SARS-CoV-2–associated... read more

Cluster of Carbapenemase-Producing Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Among ICU Patients

Cluster of Carbapenemase-Producing Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Among ICU Patients

Treatment of carbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CP-CRPA) infections is challenging because of antibiotic resistance. CP-CRPA infections are highly transmissible in health care settings because... read more

Rapid Sepsis Tests Using Magnetic Nanoparticles

Rapid Sepsis Tests Using Magnetic Nanoparticles

Qun Ren, an Empa researcher, and her team are currently developing a diagnostic procedure that can rapidly detect life-threatening blood poisoning caused by staphylococcus bacteria. Staphylococcal sepsis is fatal in up... read more

Hospital Acquired Infections, Multidrug Resistant (MDR) Bacteria, Alternative Approaches to Antibiotic Therapy

Hospital Acquired Infections, Multidrug Resistant (MDR) Bacteria, Alternative Approaches to Antibiotic Therapy

Bacterial resistance to known and currently used antibiotics represents a growing issue worldwide. It poses a major problem in the treatment of infectious diseases in general and hospital-acquired infections in particular.... read more

Higher Dose Antibiotic Shown Safe in TB Patients Likely More Effective in Treating Deadliest Form of TB

Higher Dose Antibiotic Shown Safe in TB Patients Likely More Effective in Treating Deadliest Form of TB

A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center-led study in animals suggests that high doses of a widely used antibiotic called rifampin may safely treat and reduce the duration of treatment for the deadliest form of tuberculosis that... read more

Procalcitonin in the ED: The evidence

Procalcitonin in the ED: The evidence

Is procalcitonin of any value in the emergency department? Considering that procalcitonin testing is not available in any of my hospitals, I have never been all that interested in this question. But Swami requested a procalcitonin... read more

Novel Antibiotics Efficacy for Sepsis ICU Patients

Novel Antibiotics Efficacy for Sepsis ICU Patients

Restricting severely ill patients access to new broad-spectrum empirical drugs is not the answer. Rather there should be a focus on identifying host response to infection to differentiate between colonization or contamination... read more

Difference in Sepsis Patients Outcomes Between First and Second-Hit Infections

Difference in Sepsis Patients Outcomes Between First and Second-Hit Infections

Our study identifies a fundamental difference in patient outcomes between first-hit and second-hit bacterial infections, which may be due to genetic, microbiological, immunological, and environmental factors. This finding... read more

Scripts for Subconjunctival Hemorrhage, Fainting and Syncope, and Viral Illness

Scripts for Subconjunctival Hemorrhage, Fainting and Syncope, and Viral Illness

Many parts of the ED encounter interfere with patient or family comprehension, not the least of which is the ED's noisy, hurried environment. But other factors affect what they understand and remember about the encounter—their... read more

Development of Persistent Respiratory Morbidity in Previously Healthy Children After ARF

Development of Persistent Respiratory Morbidity in Previously Healthy Children After ARF

Persistent respiratory morbidity develops in up to potentially 44% of previously healthy children less than or equal to 24 months old at follow-up after acute respiratory failure (ARF) requiring mechanical ventilation. This... read more

The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir

The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug: A Memoir

A riveting memoir of one woman's extraordinary effort to save her husband's life-and the discovery of a forgotten cure that has the potential to save millions more. Epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee and her husband, psychologist... read more

Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic

Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic

A New York Times bestselling author shares this exhilarating story of cutting-edge science and the race against the clock to find new treatments in the fight against the antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as superbugs. Physician,... read more

Optimizing Therapy of Bloodstream Infection Due to Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae

Optimizing Therapy of Bloodstream Infection Due to Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae

Carbapenems should be used in patients with serious infections; alternatives could be used individually, particularly for definitive treatment of patients with milder presentations. Meropenem and imipenem are the drugs... read more

Corticosteroids for Children with Septic Arthritis

Corticosteroids for Children with Septic Arthritis

Researchers conducted a review of the effects of corticosteroids given in addition to antibiotics to children with septic arthritis. Evidence was sought until April 2018. After searching for all relevant studies, reviewers... read more