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Cutaneous Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Infections: Clinical Clues and Treatment Options
Opinion statement Among cutaneous infections caused by mycobacteria, those caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria are the most common ones and their incidence seems to be progressively increasing. These infections could affect both immunocompetent and immunocompromised subjects. The majority of the pathogens have a worldwide distribution, and the transmission of the infection is related to environmental exposure. Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of the so-called Buruli ulcer, has an endemic distribution that is responsible of this infection mainly in some countries of Africa and Australia. Due ...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - October 28, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Combination Antibiotic Therapy for the Definitive Management of Select Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Rod Infections
Opinion Statement Treatment of acutely ill patients with severe multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative infections is becoming an all too common scenario for clinicians. Often times, these organisms are only susceptible to second-line drugs with significant side effect profiles. Current literature is conflicting as to the best approach to treat these infections, but there is a body of literature that suggests definitive combination therapy for these infections may be worthwhile. Combination therapy is justified by the possible decreased rate of resistance emerging while on therapy and the potential benefi...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - October 19, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Diagnostic and Treatment Considerations for Prosthetic Joint Infections: Sonication and New Gram-Positive Agents
Opinion Statement Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a rare but serious and catastrophic complication of total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Culturing the causative microorganism can be difficult especially in the setting of biofilm formation or antibiotic exposure. In culture-positive cases, Staphylococcal species continue to be the most common organisms isolated. In this review, we will discuss the potential role of sonication to increase the yield of periprosthetic cultures as well as new treatment options for gram-positive organisms. As the percentage of patients who undergo TJA continues to grow, we mus...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - October 15, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Current Therapy for Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease
Opinion statement Pulmonary infections due to nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) occur commonly, are increasing in frequency, and pose many challenges to clinicians. Typically, NTM infections occur in the presence of structural lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis (CF), or bronchiectasis. Pharmacological therapy is the mainstay of treatment but should not be initiated until it is clear that the identification of NTM in bronchial secretions fulfills the criteria for active infection. Pathogenic NTM vary in their response to pharmacological therapy. Successful an...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - October 10, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Clostridium difficile Infection: Current and Emerging Therapeutics
Opinion statement Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has been identified as a significant threat to human health in the twenty-first century. Patients with CDI experience diarrhea, gastrointestinal pain, and colonic inflammation that can be life-threatening. Antibiotic therapy is successful at treating the majority of patients with CDI, but an increased number of CDI cases over the last 15 years, including severe and recurrent disease, is problematic and must be addressed with a multifaceted approach. Cleaning and infection prevention protocols are necessary to eradicate C....
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - October 7, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Epidemiology and Treatment of MDR Enterobacteriaceae
Opinion statement The major progress in the history of medicine represented by the discovery of antibiotics is nowadays compromised by the universal spread of antibiotic resistance. World Health Organization (WHO) lists third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae and carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae in a group of seven bacteria of international concern, responsible for both healthcare-associated and community-acquired infections. Patients infected by these pathogens have limited therapeutic options, worse clinical outcomes, increased mortality rates, and a higher ...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - October 3, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Erratum to: Clinical Management of Ebola Virus Disease Patients
(Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases)
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - September 30, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Erratum to: Aerosol-Transmitted Infections - a New Consideration for Public Health and Infection Control Teams
(Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases)
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - September 9, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Human Papillomavirus and Its Role in Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment
This article discusses the current role of HPV testing in the prevention, screening and treatment of cervical cancer, including vaccination strategies, integration of HPV testing into national screening programmes and future developments. (Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases)
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - August 12, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Treatment of Arenavirus Infections
Opinion Statement Arenaviruses are a cause of several potentially fatal viral hemorrhagic fevers. While lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus is found worldwide, the remaining arenaviruses have limited geographic ranges. These zoonoses are generally transmitted to humans after exposure to aerosolized excreta or to blood or other body fluids of the rodent. Human to human transmission also poses a serious public health threat, especially in the health care setting. All but one of the pathogenic arenaviruses are considered select, category A agents due to their potential for weaponization as well as the lack of...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - July 24, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Aerosol-Transmitted Infections—a New Consideration for Public Health and Infection Control Teams
This article reviews the evidence and characteristics of some of the accepted (tuberculosis, measles, chickenpox, whooping cough) and some of the more opportunistic (influenza, Clostridium difficile, norovirus) aerosol-transmitted infectious agents and outlines methods of detecting and quantifying transmission. (Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases)
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - July 22, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Viral Hemorrhagic Fever: Bunyaviridae
Opinion statement Viruses of the family Bunyaviridae cause a variety of human diseases. Some members of this family are known to cause hemorrhagic fever syndrome in humans. Included in this group are Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Hantaan virus-induced hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Rift Valley fever (RVF), a viral hemorrhagic fever in this family, merits greater attention in awareness of diagnosis and treatment options. Once thought to be an unusual source of sporadic disease outbreaks in rural east Africa, RVF continues to emerge as a viral hemorrhagic fever of note. With greater health car...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - July 16, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Clinical Management of Ebola Virus Disease Patients
Opinion statement The mainstay of Ebola virus disease (EVD) management is supportive care of complications, and types of interventions used may range from basic oral rehydration and symptom management to critical care with advanced organ support, depending on the resources of the treatment facility. Adequate fluid resuscitation, management of electrolyte and acid-base disturbances, treatment of symptoms, and antimicrobial therapy for possible co-infections are key. There are no specific Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies for treatment of EVD. Several investigational therapies have shown...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - July 16, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Antifungal Susceptibility Testing: Evolution, Indications, and Role in Clinical Practice
Opinion statement A wide range of immune modulating agents and options for cancer chemotherapeutic agents have led to decreased immunity in human hosts, thereby leading to an increase in the incidence of fungal infections. There has been a parallel increase in the availability of antifungal agents. Antifungal susceptibility testing is important for clinicians to choose or de-escalate to an appropriate antifungal agent and for epidemiological studies. Caution must be used when interpreting susceptibility results as some have not been fully validated for patient care. (Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases)
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - July 15, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research

Diagnosis of Invasive Aspergillosis: Use of the Galactomannan Assay
Opinion statement Invasive aspergillosis is the cause of severe morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Given the challenges of fungal cultures, non-culture surrogates are crucial to the timely diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) to initiate expedited treatment. The Platelia™ Aspergillus EIA (Bio-Rad, Hercules, California) is a double-sandwich ELISA that detects the galactomannan (GM) of the fungal cell wall and was cleared by the FDA for use in serum and bronchoalveolar fluid (BAL) in 2003 and 2011, respectively. The population in which GM has been studied the most and has shown...
Source: Current Treatment Options in Infectious Diseases - July 11, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research