Tag: infection
Updated Guidelines for Sepsis Management
In 2017 the Society for Critical Care Medicine updated its guidelines for sepsis management. These new guidelines differ significantly from ones in the past in that they no longer recommend protocolized resuscitation and... read more
Influenza and Considerations Regarding Infectious Mimics
The patient with headache, myalgia, and URI symptoms may just have the common flu. It's all too common to see and treat multiple patients with influenza-like illness during the flu season. But what could you be missing?... read more
World's most threatening superbugs ranked in new list
The World Health Organization has drawn up a list of the drug-resistant bacteria that pose the biggest threat to human health. Top of the list are gram-negative bugs, such as E. coli, which can cause lethal bloodstream infections... read more
What’s new with stress ulcer prophylaxis in the ICU?
Critically ill patients are at risk of stress-related mucosal erosions. These are typically superficial and asymptomatic but may progress to ulceration and overt and clinically important gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding,... read more
Study Connects Maternal Response to Infection During Pregnancy with Increased Autism Risk
A new study adds to a growing body of research aimed at understanding how a mother’s body’s response to infection influences a growing fetus. In research published this week in mSphere, researchers at Columbia University... read more
GERD Treatment May Reduce Healthcare Visits for Acute Respiratory Infections
Treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may help decrease healthcare visits for acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). These are the findings of a new study published... read more
High Levels of Nosocomial Infection Found in Pediatric ICUs
One in six children in pediatric intensive care units (pICU), and one in ten babies in neonatal intensive care units (nICU) develop a hospital-acquired infection (HAI), according to a new study. Researchers at the European... read more
Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections
Vitamin D supplementation was safe and it protected against acute respiratory tract infection overall. Patients who were very vitamin D deficient and those not receiving bolus doses experienced the most benefit. 25 eligible... read more
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
