Infectious Diseases

Antibiotic use to treat catheter-associated bacteriuria futile in decreasing risk of mortality
With 30 million indwelling bladder catheters placed annually nationwide, patients face an increased risk of developing catheter-associated bacteriuria (bacteria in the urine). Many patients with indwelling urinary catheters acquire bacteria in the urinary tract while they are catheterized. Most previous studies assessing morbidity and mortality associated with catheter use have not separated urinary tract infection from asymptomatic bacteriuria. This has made it difficult to determine if bacteria in the urine puts patients at higher risk for bloodstream infection or death. The study is published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Eurekalert!

Study shows how Staph toxin disarms the immune system
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a new mechanism by which the deadly Staphylococcus aureus bacteria attack and kill off immune cells. Their findings, published today in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, explain a critical survival tactic of a pathogen that causes more skin and heart infections than any other microbe, and kills more than 100,000 Americans every year. Eurekalert!

Adjuvanted vaccine boosts flu protection for elderly
The 'real world' study, based in Canada, assessed less than 300 elderly participants for adjuvanted vaccine effectiveness. It found an MF59 (an oil-in-water adjuvant containing a shark oil derivative and two surfactants) adjuvanted vaccine provided more protection (60 per cent effectiveness) against influenza compared with the unadjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine. MedicalXpress

Danoprevir Combo Cuts Hep C Viral Load (CME/CE)
In a phase II trial of danoprevir as an add-on therapy for peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin, sustained virologic response was achieved in 68% of those who received 300 mg of the drug, 85% of those who received 600 mg, and 76% in those who received 900 mg, versus 42% in those who received placebo, according to Patrick Marcellin, MD, PhD, of Hôpital Beaujon in Clichy, France, and colleagues. MedPage Today