MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Betsy Foxman PhD
Hunein F. and Hilda Maassab Endowed Professor of Epidemiology
Director, Center for Molecular and Clinical Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Influenza is a major cause of human illness and death worldwide. Vaccines are the best available means of prevention. However, vaccine effectiveness has been low to moderate in recent years and coverage remains low in many countries.
There is increasing evidence suggesting the microbiome plays an important role in shaping host immunity and may be a potential target for reducing disease. In our study, we used a household transmission study to explore whether the respiratory microbiome was associated with influenza susceptibility.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. J. (Hans) Berkhof PhD
Vrije Universiteit
AmsterdamMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: In most countries, the Pap test is used for cervical cancer screening but recently several countries have switched from Pap testing to HPV testing.
Like the Pap test, the HPV test requires a cervical sample to be taken by a clinician. Vaginal self-sampling is also used, but only in underscreened women. We know that self-sampling increases screening participation in underscreened women and it is likely that many women that attend screening also prefer self-sampling if it had been offered to them.
We studied whether an HPV self-sampling test is an accurate alternative to a regular HPV test in women invited for routine screening. We randomized about 14,000 women, invited for screening, to self-sampling or clinician-sampling. Women with a positive HPV test result also received the other HPV test.
We found that the HPV self-sampling test yielded similar performance as the regular HPV test for detection of cervical pre-cancerous lesions (CIN3 and CIN2).(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Donna Armellino RN, DNP, CIC
Vice President, Infection Prevention
Northwell Health, Infection Prevention
Lake Success, N. Y.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The background for initiating this study was to assess frequently used equipment within the patient care environment following standard manual cleaning and disinfection compared to disinfection with PurpleSun’s shadowless 90-second cycle focused multivector ultraviolet (FMUV) delivery system. Microbes exist within the environment. Cleaning followed by disinfection, regardless of method, is intended to decrease levels of these microbes to minimize exposure and the risk of infection.
To measure the effectiveness of the two methods of disinfection a five-point culturing method was used to assess microbial burden. This method was used to assess patient care equipment cleanliness after manual cleaning/disinfection and following the use of FMUV after an operative case and was used to sample equipment deemed cleaned/disinfected and ready for use outside the operative environment. Microbial burden was reported as colony forming units (CFUs). Comparison of the CFUs before cleaning/disinfection, after cleaning/disinfection, and after the use of FMUV allowed efficacy of the disinfection methods to be compared.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Thomas Lingelbach
President & CEO of Valneva
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain the significance of Chikungunya disease?Response: Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a Togaviridae virus, transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The chikungunya virus causes clinical illness in 72-92% of infected humans around four to seven days after an infected mosquito bite. People infected with chikungunya may suffer from acute onset of fever, debilitating joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea and rash, potentially developing into long-term, serious health impairments such as visual, neurological, heart and gastrointestinal manifestations that in some extreme cases can lead to fatalities.
Chikungunya outbreaks have been reported in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. As of 2017, there have been more than one million reported cases in the Americas. The medical burden is expected to grow as the CHIKV primary mosquito vectors continue to further spread geographically.
Currently there are no preventive vaccines against Chikungunya making it a major threat to public health.
We set out to develop VLA1553, a live-attenuated vaccine candidate, as a potential solution to the growing unmet need chikungunya poses. Our hope is that having a preventative vaccine for chikungunya will allow people living in endemic areas to have peace of mind while enjoying the outdoors.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Kirsten Perrett MBBS FRACP PhD
Team Leader / Clinician-Scientist Fellow, Population Allergy, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Consultant Paediatrician, Department of Allergy and Immunology and General Medicine
The Royal Children's Hospital
Fellow, School of Population and Global Health
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Victoria Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Before rotavirus vaccines were available, rotavirus infection was the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis in infants and young children. Because it is so contagious, infection in childhood is thought to be universal in unvaccinated children.
Previous studies indicated that rotavirus infection of infants might be an environmental promoter of type 1 diabetes. Therefore, we anticipated that the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine might alter the disease incidence in young children.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sarah Anne Mbaeyi MD MPH
Division of Bacterial Diseases
CDCMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: College freshman living in residence halls, though not college students overall, have previously been identified as being at increased risk for meningococcal disease. However, these evaluations were conducted in the 1990s when rates of disease were higher, serogroup C was the predominant cause of disease, and before the availability of quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) or serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccines.
MenACWY vaccine is routinely recommended for all adolescents at age 11 years and 16 years, as well as unvaccinated or undervaccinated college freshmen living in residence halls. MenB vaccine is not routinely recommended for all adolescents or college students, but may be administered to persons aged 16-23 years, with the preferred age of 16-18 years, based on clinical decision-making. Meningococcal vaccines are also recommended during an outbreak, and in recent years MenB vaccines have been used during multiple outbreaks on college campuses.
In this evaluation, we aimed to describe the current epidemiology of meningococcal disease among college-aged young adults in the United States.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Srinivas Acharya Nanduri, MBBS, MD, MPH
Respiratory Diseases Branch, National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Roybal Campus
Atlanta, GA 3033
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of serious illness such as meningitis and sepsis in infants. Among infants, there are two main types of GBS disease. Early-onset GBS disease occurs during the first week of life and late-onset GBS disease occurs from the first week through three months of life. Rates of early-onset disease in the United States have decreased significantly since the 1990s through widespread implementation of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) guidelines. However, IAP does not prevent late-onset disease. Maternal immunization represents a nonantibiotic strategy to prevent both early and late-onset disease. Multivalent polysaccharide-protein conjugate vaccines are under development against GBS capsular types, with candidate vaccines in phase I and II trials.
Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) conducts active surveillance for early and late-onset GBS disease among infants in select counties of 10 states, covering about 10% of live births across the United States. We analyzed data from early and late-onset GBS cases identified from ABCs between 2006 and 2015 to describe their epidemiology, incidence trends, and associated strain characteristics. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Kevin Chatham-Stephens, MD, MPH, FAAP
CDR U.S. Public Health Service
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Typhoid fever is a life-threatening disease caused by Salmonella Typhi bacteria. It spreads when someone consumes food or water that has been contaminated with feces (poop) from someone carrying the bacteria. About 12–27 million cases of typhoid fever occur worldwide every year.
About 350 culture-confirmed cases of typhoid fever in the United States are reported to CDC each year. Most of these cases occur among international travelers.
Symptoms of typhoid fever often include high fever, weakness, stomach pain, cough, and loss of appetite. Some people have diarrhea or constipation. Typhoid fever can be prevented through vaccination and safe food and water practices. Typhoid fever is treated with antibiotics, although most infections diagnosed in the United States cannot be successfully treated with the class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Michael Marks MRCP DTM&H PhD
Clinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious & Tropical Diseases
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Hospital for Tropical Diseases
London, United Kingdom
Twitter @dr_michaelmarks
Daniel Engelman MBBS; BMedSci; MPHTM; FRACP; PhD
Centre for International Child Health, University of Melbourne,
Tropical Diseases Research Group
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Melbourne, Australia
Twitter @Dan_Engelman
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? MM: Scabies is extremely common. Globally in the region of 100-200 million people are believed to be affected by scabies annually.
Recently the WHO has recognised Scabies as a ‘Neglected Tropical Disease’ in response to this burden of disease. There has been increasing interest in using Mass Drug Administration (treating whole communities) as a strategy to control scabies in communities. In order to make this practical countries need an easy mechanism for establishing if scabies is a significant problem in their communities. In general when treating an individual, clinicians would conduct a full body examination to diagnose scabies – however this may not be practical or necessary when making decisions about whether to treat whole communities.
DE: Despite the fact that Scabies is a very common condition that causes a great deal of health problems, it has been largely neglected by health, research and funding agencies – but pleasingly, the WHO has now started to take action on scabies control, starting with the recognition of scabies as a "Neglected Tropical Disease"
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jianguo Xu, MD
West China Hospital, Sichuan University
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Since the mid-20th century, corticosteroids have been used as adjuvant therapy in the context of sepsis. Although evaluated in numerous randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses, both the safety and efficacy of corticosteroids remain controversial.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Byron Caughey, Ph.D.
Senior Investigator
Chief, TSE/prion Biochemistry Section
Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases
NIH/NIAID Rocky Mountain Laboratories
Hamilton, MT 59840 USAMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Corneal transplants have caused the transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in at least two cases, and pathological prion protein has been detected in the retinas of the eyes of sporadic CJD cases. To build on these previous indications of prions in eye tissue, we tested the distribution of prions in various components of eyes from 11 sCJD decedents.
We applied a highly sensitive surrogate test for prions (RT-QuIC) that indicated that all of the sCJD cases had prions in multiple parts of their eye, including the cornea and sclera, which is the white outer surface of the eye. Retinas were usually contained the highest levels, in some cases approaching levels in the brain. Some other parts such as the cornea, lens and vitreous had much lower, but detectable, levels.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Asher Schranz, MD
Division of Infectious Disease
Department of Medicine
UNC School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The opioid crisis has led to several major infectious diseases concerns, including HIV and Hepatitis C.
Drug use-associated infective endocarditis (DUA-IE) is a less commonly discussed consequence of the opioid epidemic. DUA-IE is an infection of one or more heart valves that occurs from injecting drugs. It can be a severe, life-threatening infection and requires a long course of intravenous antibiotics as well as, in some cases, open heart surgery to replace an infected heart valve. Several studies over the past few years have shown that DUA-IE has been increasing.
Our study examined hospital discharges in North Carolina statewide from 2007 to 2017. We sought to update trends in DUA-IE and describe how much heart valve surgery was being performed for DUA-IE. We also aimed to report the demographics of persons who are undergoing heart valve surgery for DUA-IE and the charges, lengths of stay and outcomes of these hospitalizations.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sasirekha Ramani, PhD
Assistant Professor
Molecular Virology and Microbiology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This work pertains to Rotavirus, a leading cause of diarrhea and vomiting in children under the age of 5 years. In this paper, we described our work with a rotavirus strain that almost exclusively causes neonatal infections. For many years, we have been trying to understand why this strain primarily infects newborns and why infection in some babies is associated with gastrointestinal symptoms while others are asymptomatic. A few years ago, we showed that this particular virus binds to developmentally-regulated glycans (sugars) in the gut as receptors. As the baby grows, these sugars get modified, and that potentially explains why infection with this virus is primarily restricted to neonates. However, we didn’t really have to answer to why there are differences in association with clinical presentations.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Rachel M. Burke, PhD, MPH
Epidemiologist, Viral Gastroenteritis Branch
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA 30329
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Noroviruses are the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea from acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach or intestines) among people of all ages in the United States. Each year in the United States, norovirus illness is responsible for an estimated 19 to 21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis, and contributes to 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations and 570 to 800 deaths, mostly among children and the elderly.
CDC linked information from two different surveillance systems to analyze 3,747 norovirus outbreaks reported by health departments from 2009 to 2016. Our study provides a comprehensive description of norovirus outbreaks from the epidemiology and laboratory perspectives, using the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) and CaliciNet, respectively.
Norovirus outbreaks caused by GII.4 strains occurred more often in healthcare settings, affected older adults, and caused more severe illness, leading to hospitalization or death.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Andrea Hahn, M.D., MS
Infectious disease specialist and lead study author
Children's National Health System
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: People who have the genetic disease cystic fibrosis have increased sticky secretions in their lungs that put them at risk for repeated bacterial infections. They often will receive courses of intravenous antibiotics to treat more severe or difficult-to-treat infections associated with decreased lung function. However, not all patients fully recover their lung function after antibiotic treatment, despite directing antibiotic therapy toward the specific bacteria thought to be causing the infection. The goal of this study was to determine if the pharmacokinetics of commonly used antibiotics was associated with recovery of lung function.
First, we found that patients with therapeutic blood levels of beta-lactam antibiotics had better lung recovery than patients with sub-therapeutic levels of these antibiotics.
Second, we found that using higher antibiotic dosing according to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation guidelines was not sufficient to predict which patients would have therapeutically meaningful blood levels of antibiotics. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Alessandro Cassini MD
Epidemiologist, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Solna, Sweden
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We published an ECDC study estimating attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the European Union and the European Economic Area (EU/EEA). This study is based on 2015 data from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net).
The study was developed by experts at ECDC and the Burden of AMR Collaborative Group, and published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Martin H. Thornhill MBBS, BDS, PhD, MSc, FDSRCS(Edin), FDSRCSI, FDSRCS(Eng)
Professor of Translational Research in Dentistry
Academic Unit of Oral & Maxillofacial Medicine Surgery & Pathology,
University of Sheffield School of Clinical DentistryMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Infective endocarditis is an infection of the heart valves that has a high death rate (around 30% in the first year). It requires intensive treatment often involving replacement of affected heart valves and frequently results in serious long-term illness and disability in those who survive as well as an increased risk of re-infection and high healthcare costs.
In ~40% of cases, bacteria from the mouth are implicated as the causal organism. Because of this, guideline committees around the world recommended that all those at risk of infective endocarditis should receive antibiotic prophylaxis before undergoing invasive dental procedures. Due to a lack of evidence for efficacy, however, guideline committees started to limit the use of antibiotic prophylaxis. And in 2007, the American Heart Association (AHA) guideline committee recommended that antibiotic prophylaxis should continue for those at high-risk but should cease for those at moderate risk of endocarditis. Most guideline countries around the world followed suite. Except in the UK, where the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended that the use of antibiotic prophylaxis should completely stop in 2008.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Purvesh Khatri, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection (ITI)
Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research (BMIR)
Department of Medicine
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: We have previously described a 3-gene signature for distinguishing patients with active tuberculosis (ATB) from those with other diseases, latent mycobacterium tuberculosis (LTB) infection, and healthy controls (Sweeney et al. Lancet Respir Med 2016).
The current study in JAMA Network Open is a follow up study to validate the 3-gene signature in 3 additional independent cohorts that were prospectively collected.
Using these 3 cohorts we have now showed that the 3-gene signature
(1) can identify patients with LTB that will progress to ATB about 6 months prior to diagnosis of active tuberculosis.
(2) can identify patients with ATB in active screening, and
(3) can identify patients with ATB at diagnosis that have higher likelihood of persistent lung inflammation due to subclinical ATB at the end of treatment. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Simon Portsmouth, MD
Senior Medical Director
Shionogi Inc.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Antibiotics for multidrug resistant Gram-negative infections are desperately needed. Cefiderocol is the first siderophore antibiotic to reach patients.
Siderophore antibiotics bind to free iron and use the bacterial active iron transport channels to cross the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. Laboratory studies have shown that cefiderocol is active against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria, often where no other antibiotics are active. It is able to overcome most types of antibiotic resistance due to its active transport into cells and stability against all carbapenemases.
The need for antibiotics for carbapenem resistant Gram-negative infections is described as a critical need by the WHO. This trial was the first in humans with serious infections and demonstrated excellent efficacy in a complicated patient population where almost ¼ were over 75 years of age. Additionally cefiderocol did not appear to have any safety problems, and was well tolerated.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Victoria Connor
Clinical Research Fellow
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Royal Liverpool HospitalMedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Pneumococcus is a bacteria which is very common and causes lots of different infections (pneumococcal disease). Infections can be non-invasive or invasive. Non-invasive diseases include middle ear infections, sinusitis and bronchitis. Invasive infections including chest infection (pneumonia), infections of brain and spinal cord (meningitis) and blood infections (sepsis).
Invasive pneumococcal infections is a major cause of death around the world and in the UK, is estimated that is responsible for 1.3 million deaths in children under 5 annually. Pneumococcal disease causes more deaths in low and middle income countries where approximately 90% of pneumonia deaths occur.
Pneumococcus also is commonly carried (colonises) the nose/throat of children and adults. This colonisation is important to understand as it is the main source of the bacterial transmission and is also the first step in pneumococcal infections.
The understanding of transmission of pneumococcus is currently poor. It is generally thought that transmission occurs through breathing in the respiratory sections of someone carrying pneumococcus in their nose which are infected with pneumococcus.
However more recently studies especially in mice have shown that there may be a role of hands or other objects as vehicles for the transmission of pneumococcus.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Daniel J. Livorsi, MD
Assistant Professor
INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST
University of Iowa
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: One of the Joint Commission’s standards is that hospitals audit and provide feedback on hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers. Audit-and-feedback is therefore commonly practiced in US hospitals, but the effective design and delivery of this intervention is poorly defined, particularly in relation to hand hygiene improvement.
We studied how 8 hospitals had implemented audit-and-feedback for hand hygiene improvement. We found that hospitals were encountering several barriers in their implementation of audit-and-feedback. Audit data on hand hygiene compliance was challenging to collect and was frequently questioned. The feedback of audit results did not motivate positive change.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Pipat Piewngam
Postdoctorol fellow
Pathogen Molecular Genetics Section,
Laboratory of Bacteriology,
NIAID/NIH
Bethesda, MD, USA 20892MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Our team at National Institutes of health, Mahidol University and Rajamangala University of Technology in Thailand has reported that the consumption of probiotic Bacillus bacteria comprehensively abolishes colonization with the dangerous pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus.
We hypothesized that the composition of the human gut microbiota affects intestinal colonization with S. aureus. We collected fecal samples from 200 healthy individuals from rural populations in Thailand and analyzed the composition of the gut microbiome by 16S rRNA sequencing. Surprisingly, we did not detect significant differences in the composition of the microbiome between S. aureus carriers and non-carriers. We then sampled the same 200 people for S. aureus in the gut (25 positive) and nose (26 positive). Strikingly, we found no S. aureus in any of the samples where Bacillus were present.
In mouse studies, we discovered S. aureus Agr quorum-sensing signaling systemthat must function for the bacteria to grow in the gut. Intriguingly, all of the more than 100 Bacillus isolates we had recovered from the human feces efficiently inhibited that system. Then, we discovered that the fengycin class of Bacillus lipopeptides achieves colonization resistance by inhibiting that system.
To further validate their findings, we colonized the gut of mice with S. aureus and fed them B. subtilis spores to mimic probiotic intake. Probiotic Bacillus given every two days eliminated S. aureus in the guts of the mice. The same test using Bacillus where fengycin production had been removed had no effect, and S. aureus grew as expected. This is one of the first study that provide human evidence supporting the biological significance of probiotic bacterial interference and show that such interference can be achieved by blocking a pathogen’s signaling system. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Thomas P. Lodise Jr., PharmD, PhD
Clinical Pharmacist at the Stratton
VA Medical Center in Albany, NY
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Albany, NY
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How does Ceftolozane/Tazobactam differ from other antibiotics for serious Gram-negative infections including Pseudomonas aeruginosa?Response: Treatment of patients with Gram-negative infections is increasingly difficult due to rising resistance to commonly used agents. Ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) is a potent anti-pseudomonal agent with broad Gram-negative coverage that is indicated for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI) and complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) and is currently being studied for ventilated nosocomial pneumonia. C/T differs from other antibiotics in terms of its potency against multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the most concerning and difficult-to-treat Gram-negative pathogens. This study evaluates C/T in a large database of US hospitals to better understand treatment patterns and associated outcomes.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
David G. Thanassi, Ph.D.
Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Center for Infectious Diseases
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5222
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli use hair-like surface appendages termed pili to colonize tissues within the host and initiate infection. Together with our collaborators - the group of Huilin Li at the Van Andel Research Institute - we used an advanced imaging technique termed cryo-electron microscopy to determine snapshots of bacterial pili as they are being assembled. The pili we studied are critical for uropathogenic strains of E. coli to colonize the urinary tract and cause urinary tract infections. Our work revealed a new stage in the pilus assembly process and new details about how these structures are built on the bacterial surface. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Richard Hengel, MD, FRCPC, FACP
Atlanta ID Group
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How does Bezlotoxumab differ from other medications for recurrent C. difficile infections?Response: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is now the most common hospital acquired infection in the United States, accounting for significant morbidity and mortality, not only in the US, but around the world. Despite standard antibiotic therapy targeting the Clostridium difficile bacterium directly, recurrent infection is common, occurring in a quarter to a third of patients, often frail individuals with other concurrent medical problems. These patients can have multiple recurrences leading to their progressive deterioration over time. Until recently, the only treatment for CDI included antibiotics. More recently, fecal microbiota transplant is a promising, but as yet, FDA unapproved therapy. Bezlotoximab is a new FDA approved treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (rCDI) that compliments standard antibiotics. Bezlotoxumab is a monoclonal antibody targeting toxin B produced by Clostridium difficile during CDI. In two large treatment trials, bezotoxumab, in addition to standard-of-care antibiotics, reduced the frequency of CDI recurrences from about 28% to about 18%. In this study, we set out to see if this new drug performed as well in actual clinical practice as it did in the published clinical trials.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Michelle Hoffman Brown
Associate Principal Scientist
Merck
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the kidney risks of using colistin to treat carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections?Response: Gram-negative pathogens are responsible for half of all healthcare-associated infections and their ability to resist traditional antibiotics makes them more dangerous for seriously ill patients in a healthcare setting. The need for new approaches to treat these pathogens is essential and this trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of imipenem/relebactam (IMI/REL) for the treatment of these challenging infections.
Nephrotoxicity is a common complication of colistin-based therapy and is the potential adverse experience of greatest concern to prescribing clinicians, limiting its use to treat carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections. Relebactam is a novel β-lactamase inhibitor that restores imipenem activity against many imipenem-non-susceptible strains of Gram-negative pathogens. In the Phase 3 RESTORE-IMI 1 study (NCT02452047), IMI/REL was shown to be as effective as, but better tolerated than, colistin plus imipenem, including as demonstrated by a lower incidence of treatment-emergent nephrotoxicity (prespecified secondary endpoint). This analysis looked at additional renal safety data from the RESTORE-IMI 1 trial.(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Mark Laughlin, DVM
Veterinary Medical Officer
CDC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
How common are Campylobacter infections? How does a Campylobacter infection typically present?Response: Campylobacter is one of the most common causes of diarrheal illness in the United States, causing an estimated 1.3 million illnesses each year. Most people with Campylobacter infection usually have diarrhea (often bloody), fever, and abdominal cramps. The diarrhea may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. These symptoms usually start within 2 to 5 days after exposure and last about a week.
Most illnesses from Campylobacter likely occur due to eating raw or undercooked poultry, or from eating something that touched raw or undercooked poultry. Some illnesses can occur from contact with contaminated water, contact with animals, or from drinking raw (unpasteurized) milk.
Since 2009, 13 outbreaks of human Campylobacter infections linked to contact with dogs have been reported to CDC. These outbreaks account for a reported 47 illnesses and 2 hospitalizations.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Dorival Martins
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Meakins-Christie Laboratories, Research Institute
McGill University Health Centre
Montreal Canada.MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Antibiotic tolerance, together with drug resistance, makes bacteria refractory to antibiotics and can cause treatment failure in subacute and chronic bacterial infections.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a major health concern worldwide, can cause severe chronic infections that are refractory to antibiotic treatments due to tolerance.Since the discovery of new antibiotics has been drastically diminished over the last decades, overcoming tolerance could be a strategy to enhance the efficacy of currently available antibiotic treatments. However, very little is known about the mechanism of tolerance, even though this phenomenon has been observed over 60 years ago.
(more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Michael J. Mahan PhD
Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Dept of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?Response: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) cause nearly 10 million doctor visits each year in the United States. Women are much more likely to have a UTI than men, and are particularly harmful to pregnant women and can cause miscarriage. Thus, there is a medical need for rapid, low-cost, on-site testing — particularly in resource-limited settings.
We developed a new app that enables a smartphone to identify (ID) bacteria causing UTIs in just one hour — a fraction of the time and cost of clinical diagnostics.
(more…)
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