Tag: infection
Rude Surgeons Likely to Make Mistakes
A new study finds surgeons with a history of patient complaints about their personalities or attitude are more likely to make mistakes in the operating room. Researchers compared surgical outcomes with patient reports of... read more
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS): Pearls and Pitfalls
A three-year-old male presents with mom for seven days of fever, diarrhea, and decreased activity. When you walk into the room, you note a listless-appearing boy with pallor. His eyes appear sunken. He is tachycardic, tachypneic,... read more
Wide variations found in evaluation of newborns for sepsis
The evaluation of well-appearing term infants for early-onset sepsis (EOS) varies considerably among hospitals, with some doing extensive work-ups and giving antibiotics while others simply observe and provide newborn routine... read more
MR-proADM Accuracy Superior for Sepsis Mortality Prediction
The use of novel sepsis biomarkers has increased in recent years. However, their prognostic value with respect to illness severity has not been explored. In this work, we examined the ability of mid-regional proadrenomedullin... read more
Candida Auris forms biofilms that enhance its virulence and resistance
In three separate trials, eight samples of each strain of C. auris grew biofilms that constitute a key driver of Candida pathogenicity. C. auris first attracted attention in 2009 because of its resistance to azoles and amphotericin... read more
Sepsis Readmissions Compared With Other Medical Conditions
This study uses data from a US readmissions database to assess whether sepsis hospitalizations account for a higher proportion of unplanned 30-day readmissions than hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, heart... read more
How survival of cancer patients in critical care has improved in the last 3 decades
Comprehensive care for critically ill patients with cancer is a collaborative effort, and close cooperation between oncology as well as palliative and critical care is essential. Collaborative decision making is a cornerstone... read more
Thrombocytosis in the ED
Both reactive thrombocytosis and clonal thrombocytosis may be associated with vasomotor symptoms. The key difference is that thrombotic and bleeding events are much more common in myeloproliferative thrombocytosis, whereas... read more
Social Media Helps Forecast Outbreak Transmission Patterns
A new study suggests then when epidemiological data are scarce, social media and Internet reports can be reliable tools for forecasting infectious disease outbreaks. Researchers at Georgia State University and the U.S. National... read more
Manufacturer guidelines fall short for endoscope reprocessing
A just-published study finds that current endoscopic manufacturer cleaning instructions for a wide range of GI, urological and respiratory devices used in diagnostic procedures still fail to protect patients from the risk... read more
Six myths promoted by the new surviving sepsis guidelines
The Rivers trial and the Surviving Sepsis Campaign popularized sepsis protocols, which saved lives. Massive accomplishment. However, that doesn’t validate the individual components of early goal-directed therapy. Any protocol... read more
Lower C. difficile mortality with vancomycin than metronidazole
Treating Clostridium difficile infection with vancomycin achieves the same recurrence rates as does treatment with metronidazole, but with a significantly lower 30-day mortality, new research suggests. The 30-day mortality... read more
Transmission of Staphylococcus aureus between health-care workers, the environment, and patients in ICU
Between Oct 31, 2011, and Dec 23, 2012, we sampled 198 health-care workers, 40 environmental locations, and 1854 patients; 1819 isolates were sequenced. Median nasal carriage rate of S aureus in health-care workers at 4-weekly... read more
A randomized placebo-controlled phase II study of a Pseudomonas vaccine in ventilated ICU patients
This phase II study has shown that IC43 vaccination of ventilated ICU patients produced a significant immunogenic effect. P. aeruginosa infection rates did not differ significantly between groups. In the absence of any difference... read more
Study shows brute force antibiotics can overcome resistance
Researchers at the University College London have developed a new method that may overcome antibiotic resistance in bacterial cells. The team used sensitive equipment to measure the mechanical forces that four different antibiotics,... read more
Global multicenter observational investigator initiated study
The DIANA study is a large multicenter cohort study, lead by intensive care unit experts out of the University Hospital Ghent. This investigator initiated study will collect a large amount of data from multiple centers and... read more
Magnet guidance reduces misplacement of subclavian vein catheter in internal jugular vein
The internal jugular vein (IJV) and subclavian vein (SCV) are the two most commonly used insertion sites for central venous catheterization (CVC). A multicenter clinical trial compared commonly used insertion sites and... read more
WHO Calls for Stronger Avian Influenza Surveillance
With highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza A (H5N8) continuing to spread via birds across Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging the public to keep careful watch on this strain and has also called for... read more
SOFA score may be best to identify sepsis in the ICU
Among critically ill patients admitted to the ICU with a suspected infection, defining sepsis by an increase of two or more points in the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score yielded greater prognostic accuracy... read more
New Infection Data and Sepsis-Guideline Critique at SCCM
The potential of probiotics to reduce nosocomial infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia in the critically ill and the latest data on readmissions will be among the major research advances presented here at the Society... read more
Bad news for sepsis-3.0: qSOFA fails validation
Sepsis 3.0 replaced the SIRS criteria with a new risk-stratification tool, qSOFA. qSOFA was initially developed within the Sepsis-3 publication itself. Until now, qSOFA has never been validated. The value of qSOFA vs. SIRS... read more
Effect of Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in major burn patients
The inclusion of ω-3 PUFAs in a low fat diet in ICU burned patients was associated with significant clinical benefits compared to a conventional low fat diet, with lower rates of severe sepsis, septic shock and pyloric dysfunction.... read more
