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(HealthDay)—For patients with cancer with Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD), fidaxomicin treatment is associated with improved outcomes compared with vancomycin treatment, according to research published online May 28 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-fidaxomicin-ups-outcome-difficile-tied-diarrhea.html Cancer Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:20:01 EST news290104572 (HealthDay)—For HIV-infected individuals with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, fecal microbiota therapy is feasible, according to a letter published in the May 21 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-fecal-microbiota-tx-feasible-recurrent.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 22 May 2013 18:20:01 EST news288458217 In rooms of patients with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), the outside of the packages containing sterile items can become contaminated. Unused medical supplies are often thrown away to prevent the items from becoming pathways for transmission of drug-resistant microbes, and in the process this leads to increased healthcare costs. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital found that hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV) is an effective way to sanitize the outside of the packages of these sterile supplies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-decontamination-unused-medical-health-care.html Health Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:33:24 EST news284722397 Too much antibiotic can decimate the normal intestinal microbiota, which may never recover its former diversity. That, in turn, renders the GI tract vulnerable to being colonized by pathogens. Now researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, and Centro Superior de Investigación en Salud Pública, Valencia, Spain, show that reintroducing normal microbial diversity largely eliminated vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) from the intestinal tracts of mice. The investigators showed further that the findings may apply to humans. The research is published in the March 2013 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-good-bacteria-expunge-vancomycin-resistant-gut.html Immunology Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:27:33 EST news281190439 (HealthDay)—A daily swabbing with a simple antiseptic greatly decreases the number of life-threatening bloodstream infections and drug-resistant bacteria lurking among patients in acute-care hospital units, a new study suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-hospitals-daily-antiseptic-dangerous-infections.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:40:01 EST news279392716 (HealthDay)—Here's a new twist on the old idea of not letting anything go to waste. According to a small new Dutch study, human stool—which contains billions of useful bacteria—can be donated from one person to another to cure a severe, common and recurrent bacterial infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-fecal-transplant-gut-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:51:15 EST news277581056 Infection control experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called hospital superbugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-hydrogen-peroxide-vapor-hospital-disinfection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 01 Jan 2013 07:41:37 EST news276248484 A new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control reports of a phenomenon that could help control the spread of hospital-acquired infections: a surface-coating of metalloacids kills off microbial strains, even in multidrug-resistant microorganisms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-metals-microbes-biocidal-effect-metalloacid-coated.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:00:03 EST news272047476 The national practice guideline for treating MRSA-related pneumonia is seven to 21 days. A Henry Ford Hospital study found that effective treatment can be done in half the time. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-optimal-treatment-duration-mrsa-related-pneumonia.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:30:10 EST news269868737 Research being presented at IDWeek 2012 shows that a specific spectrum of ultraviolet light killed certain drug-resistant bacteria on the door handles, bedside tables and other surfaces of hospital rooms, suggesting a possible future weapon in the battle to reduce hospital-associated infections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-effectiveness-ultraviolet-hospital-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:45:57 EST news269786745 Screening practices for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in intensive care units (ICUs) vary widely from hospital to hospital, according to a new study by researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing and published in the October 2012 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-wide-discrepancy-surveillance-infections-icus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:11:31 EST news269536282 Screening practices for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in intensive care units (ICUs) vary widely from hospital to hospital, according to a new study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-reveals-wide-discrepancy-multidrug-surveillance.html Health Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:22:06 EST news268057228 The antibiotic most commonly prescribed to treat bloodstream infections in dialysis patients may not always be the best choice, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-commonly-antibiotic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:00:05 EST news264345269 Canada should ban off-label use of antibiotics in farm animals because it contributes significantly to antibiotic resistance in humans, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-canada-off-label-antibiotic-agriculture-cmaj.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 04 Jun 2012 12:00:03 EST news258026289 New research finds a strong link between healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and patient readmission after an initial hospital stay. The findings, published in the June 2012 issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), suggest that reducing such infections could help reduce readmissions, considered to be a major driver of unnecessary healthcare spending and increased patient morbidity and mortality. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-expensive-hospital-readmissions-linked-health-care-associated.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 04 May 2012 14:10:07 EST news255357422 (Medical Xpress) -- Scattering a gram of powdered antibiotic (vancomycin) directly into a spinal surgery wound appears to be a safe, cost-effective way to achieve low post-operative infection rates, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-sprinkle-pixie-post-surgical-infection-spine.html Surgery Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:06:26 EST news252918364 New research published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) suggests that the types and levels of bacteria in the intestines may be used to predict a person's likelihood of having a heart attack, and that manipulating these organisms may help reduce heart attack risk. This discovery may lead to new diagnostic tests and therapies that physicians use to prevent and treat heart attacks. In addition, this research suggests that probiotics may be able to protect the heart in patients undergoing heart surgery and angioplasty. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-microbiome-disease-gut-bacteria-severity.html Medical research Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:00:02 EST news245640484 Infectious diseases specialists from Austin Health are working closely with Microbiologists from the University of Melbourne to understand how Staph is becoming resistant to all antibiotic therapies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-closer-super-bug-puzzle.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:53:36 EST news240238390 During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, many previously healthy children became critically ill, developing severe pneumonia and respiratory failure, sometimes fatal. The largest nationwide investigation to date of influenza in critically ill children, led by Children's Hospital Boston, found one key risk factor: Simultaneous infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) increased the risk for flu-related mortality 8-fold among previously healthy children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-healthy-children-fall-critically-ill.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:17:05 EST news239861817 Growing evidence for the effectiveness of fecal microbiota transplants as a treatment for patients with recurrent bouts of Clostridium difficile (C.difficile) associated diarrhea is presented in three studies -- including a long-term follow-up of colonoscopic fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) for recurrent C. difficile Infection that included 77 patients from five different states-- unveiled today at the American College of Gastroenterology's (ACG) 76th Annual Scientific meeting in Washington, DC. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-fecal-microbiota-transplants-effective-treatment.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:50:01 EST news239278315 MGB Biopharma, a biopharmaceutical company which has licensed technology from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, is developing a powerful new antibiotic treatment for resistant infections including the deadly MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C. diff.) bugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-powerful-diff-treatment.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:49:59 EST news235666182 An analysis of the genome of a superbug has yielded crucial, novel information that could aid efforts to counteract the bacterium's resistance to an antibiotic of last resort. The results of the research led by scientists from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) are published in the Sept. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-genomic-analysis-superbug-clues-antibiotic.html Medical research Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:07:01 EST news234698785 The antibiotic linezolid may be more effective than vancomycin in treating ventilated patients who develop methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia as a result of their ventilation, according to a study conducted globally by American and French researchers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-antibiotic-linezolid-effective-option-patients.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 16 May 2011 16:59:00 EST news224783926 A new research study of the effect of a commonly used strategy to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospital intensive care units (ICU) shows that the strategy had no significant effect. That's the surprising finding of a multisite study led by Mayo Clinic investigators. The bacteria -- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) -- are resistant to common antibiotics and harder to treat if patients become infected. The findings appear in today's New England Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-stemming-resistant-bacteria-intensive.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:43:46 EST news221935381