How Some Generic Drugs Could Do More Harm Than Good
For the 16 years that Dr. Brian Westerberg, a Canadian surgeon, worked volunteer missions at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, scarcity was the norm. The patients usually exceeded the 1,500 allotted beds. Running water was once cut off when the debt-ridden hospital was unable to pay its bills. On some of his early trips, Westerberg even brought over drugs from Canada in order to treat patients. But as low-cost generics made in India and China became widely available through Uganda’s government and international aid agencies in the early 2000s, it seemed at first like the supply issue had been ...
Source: TIME: Health - May 17, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katherine Eban Tags: Uncategorized generic drugs medication medicine Source Type: news
Gentamicin Appropriate Second-Line Therapy to Ceftriaxone for Gonorrhea
TUESDAY, May 7, 2019 -- A single dose of gentamicin is an appropriate second-line therapy for gonorrhea resistant to a single dose of ceftriaxone, according to a study published online May 2 in The Lancet.
Jonathan D.C. Ross, M.D., from Birmingham... (Source: Drugs.com - Pharma News)
Source: Drugs.com - Pharma News - May 7, 2019 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Drug combination could be effective for treatment-resistant gonorrhea
(National Institute for Health Research) Scientists comparing treatments for gonorrhea have identified a drug combination that could be an effective back-up for patients not responding to current therapy. The research team, from University Hospitals Birmingham, found that a treatment of the antibiotic gentamicin with azithromycin worked almost as well as the currently used ceftriaxone for genital gonorrhea. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - May 2, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Several antibiotics appear effective against early-stage Lyme disease
This meta-analysis suggests that when symptoms of the disease are confined to a localised skin infection, treatment failures are relatively infrequent, only 2% at 12 months. Effective antibiotics include penicillin V, doxycycline, azithromycin, cefuroxime, amoxicillin and ceftriaxone plus doxycycline.The research has significant limitations, but choice, dose and duration of antibiotics appear to have little impact on outcomes. This research does not suggest that guidelines need to be reviewed. (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - February 15, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
British Association for Sexual Health and HIV national guideline for the management of infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae (2019)
Revisions to this guideline includes advice that, if antimicrobial susceptibility test results from all sites of infection are available prior to treatment and the isolate is sensitive to ciprofloxacin, then this should be used for treatment in preference to ceftriaxone. (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - January 30, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Lupin, Sun Pharma, Glenmark recall products in US
Lupin is voluntarily recalling 55,000 vials and 1,60,241 boxes of anti-bacterial drug Ceftriaxone for injection in various strengths. (Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News)
Source: The Economic Times Healthcare and Biotech News - January 20, 2019 Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news
Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Issues Voluntary Recall of Ceftriaxone for Injection USP, 250mg, 500mg, 1g and 2g
Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is voluntarily recalling 5 lots of Ceftriaxone for Injection, USP, 250mg, 10 lots of Ceftriaxone for Injection, USP, 500mg, 24 lots of Ceftriaxone for Injection, USP, 1g and 3 lots of Ceftriaxone for Injection, USP 2g, to the hospital/physician level. The products have been found to contain visual grey particulate matter in reconstituted vials. (Source: Food and Drug Administration)
Source: Food and Drug Administration - January 5, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: news
Single Dose of New Oral Antibiotic Cures Most Gonorrhea Single Dose of New Oral Antibiotic Cures Most Gonorrhea
A single dose of oral zoliflodacin had efficacy similar to that of intramuscular ceftriaxone for uncomplicated urogenital and rectal gonococcal infections (but not pharyngeal gonococcal infections).Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines)
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines - November 7, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases News Source Type: news
Lyme disease: NICE guideline [NG95]
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing Lyme disease. It aims to raise awareness of when Lyme disease should be suspected and ensure that people have prompt and consistent diagnosis and treatment. It does not cover preventing Lyme disease. The guideline was updated in October 2018. Treatment for Lyme carditis in haemodynamically unstable children aged 9-12 was changed to IV ceftriaxone. First alternative was changed to oral doxycycline (DX). Footnote was added on using clinical judgement to determine doses of DX in children (Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH))
Source: Current Awareness Service for Health (CASH) - October 19, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
What is the Blood Culture Recovery Rate After Antibiotic Pretreatment?
Discussion
Sepsis is an inflammatory response syndrome in the presence of an infection, it can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi. Bacteremia is the presence of bacteria in the blood. Studies from the US show an increased incidence of sepsis (0.56 to 0.89 cases/1000 children in all age groups) but a decreased fatality rate from 10.3% to 8.9%. The prevalence of severe sepsis in pediatric intensive care settings is reported in as many as 7.7% of admissions. Severe sepsis is more common when patients have co-morbities. Primary prevention includes immunization and appropriate precautions and procedures (i.e. catheter acce...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - October 1, 2018 Category: Pediatrics Authors: pediatriceducationmin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
Drug Combo No Better for Hard-to-Treat Bloodstream Infections Drug Combo No Better for Hard-to-Treat Bloodstream Infections
A carbapenem-sparing option for the treatment of ceftriaxone-resistant infections was not equal to meropenem and should not be used in the setting of E coli or K pneumonia bloodstream infections.Medscape Medical News (Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines)
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines - September 11, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Hospital Medicine News Source Type: news
STDs on the Rise
Recently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported the dramatic increase of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. In fact, for the fourth year in a row the numbers have continued to rise. Among the rise, specific sexually transmitted diseases include:
gonorrhea has been diagnosed in 555,608 cases in preliminary 2017 data (an increase of 67% from 2013)
syphilis has been diagnosed in 30,644 cases (an increase of 76% from 2013)
chlamydia was reported with more than 1.7 million cases in 2017
These three diseases can be treated with antibiotics but gonorrhea has become antibiotic resistant over...
Source: Dragonfly - September 10, 2018 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Carolyn Martin Tags: Health Literacy/Consumer Health Public Health Public Libraries Source Type: news
Drug-resistance of gonorrhea in the EU: persistent but stable
(European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)) Neisseria gonorrhoea continues to show high levels of resistance to azithromycin across the European Union and European Economic Area, according to the 2016 results of the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (Euro-GASP). This threatens the effectiveness of the currently recommended dual therapy regimen for gonorrhea. Overall, the rates of resistance to cefixime, ceftriaxone and azithromycin have remained stable when compared to recent years. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - August 30, 2018 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Avoid piperacillin-tazobactam when treating BSI cause by ceftriaxone-resistant pathogens
(European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) The antibiotic combination treatment piperacillin-tazobactam was significantly less effective than meropenem when treating potentially fatal bloodstream infections (BSI) caused by ceftriaxone-resistant Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae and should be avoided when treating these organisms, according to research presented at the 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). (Source: EurekAlert! - Biology)
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - April 21, 2018 Category: Biology Source Type: news
Gonorrhea Bacterium Resisting Last-Resort Antibiotic Ceftriaxone
Bacterium that causes gonorrhea is resistant to standard antibiotics and threatens to develop resistance against ceftriaxone, the last effective antibiotic against the organism (Source: Disabled World)
Source: Disabled World - April 9, 2018 Category: Disability Tags: Sexuality Source Type: news
