Infections
6 simple steps to protect against and stop the spread of noroviruses
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Recent outbreaks of norovirus–also known as stomach flu–indicate the highly contagious, fast-moving virus is again a public health concern. The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has six simple steps to protect families against noroviruses.
Norovirus is the second most frequent cause of illness after the common cold. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, and occur between 24 and 48 hours after exposure. Norovirus can be life-threatening for the elderly and immunocompromised.
Handwashing can reduce diarrhea episodes by about one third
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Both in institutions and in communities, interventions that promote hand washing lead to significant reductions in the incidence of diarrhoea.
The WHO* estimates that diarrhoea kills around 2.2 million people annually, mostly young children in middle- or low-income countries. Encouraging children and adults to wash their hands after using the lavatory is one intervention that has potential to reduce the risk.
A team of Cochrane Researchers set out to assess the strength of evidence for the benefits of hand washing. They studied data in 14 randomised controlled trials, eight of which had been conducted in day-care centres and schools mainly in high-income countries; five had been community-based trials in low- and middle-income countries, and one looked at a specific high-risk group of HIV-infected adults living in the USA.
Expert commentary on origins of syphilis study
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Next week the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish a new phylogenetic analysis by Kristin Harper and colleagues on the origins of venereal syphilis.
Along with the analysis, the journal will also publish an expert commentary by Sheila Lukehart (University of Washington, Seattle) and colleagues that discusses the strengths, limitations, and implications of the new study. The commentary is attached and will be online at http://www.plosntds.org on January 14 at 5pm PDT.
Newer Meningitis Vaccine Appears Safe and Effective for Infants
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A vaccine not yet licensed in the United States produces immunity against four strains of meningococcal disease and is well tolerated when administered to infants, according to a study in the January 9/16 issue of JAMA.
It is estimated that 1,400 to 2,800 cases of invasive meningococcal disease occur in the United States each year, and that ten to 14 percent of people who contract the disease will die. The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices now advises immunization with a tetravalent vaccine (serogroups A, C, W-135, and Y) for all 11- to 18-year-olds. However, the currently licensed vaccine is poorly immunogenic in infancy, when the highest rates of disease are observed, according to background information in the article.
Genetic differences influence aging rates in the wild
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Long-lived, wild animals harbor genetic differences that influence how quickly they begin to show their age, according to the results of a long-term study reported online on December 13th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. Evidence for the existence of such genetic variation for aging rates—a central tenet in the evolutionary theory that explains why animals would show physiological declines as they grow older—had largely been lacking in natural populations until now, the researchers said.
“We’ve found that individuals differ in their rates of aging, or senescence, and that these differences are (at least in part) caused by genetic effects so they will be inherited,” said Alastair Wilson of the University of Edinburgh. “While the genetic effects we found are completely consistent with existing theory, scientists hadn’t previously managed to test this theory properly except in controlled laboratory experiments.
Asking Where And When The Next Disease Outbreak Could Happen
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It was one of those things you hear about on the news: an outbreak of monkeypox in the Chicago area. An animal dealer placed infected rats from Africa next to a crate of prairie dogs. The disease spread to the prairie dogs, which were then sold in pet stores across the nation. Dozens of people in multiple states were sickened from contact with the animals.
The incident gave K-State veterinary medicine graduate Christine Ellis a little bit of global perspective. At the time, she was working as an associate veterinarian at The Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital in the Chicago area.
Some Common Treatments for Sinus Infections May Not Be Effective
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A comparison of common treatments for acute sinusitis that included an antibiotic and a topical steroid found neither more effective than placebo, according to a study in the December 5 issue of JAMA.
Acute sinusitis (sinus infection) is a common clinical problem with symptoms similar to other illnesses, and is often diagnosed and treated without clinical confirmation. Despite the clinical uncertainty as to a bacterial cause, antibiotic prescribing rates remain as high as 92 percent in the United Kingdom and 85 percent to 98 percent in the United States, according to background information in the article.
Early Tamiflu treatment helps kids with influenza
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Expeditious treatment with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, can markedly reduce the duration of illness, symptom severity, and complications in children with influenza, according to study findings presented earlier this month at the World Society for Pediatric Infectious Disease meeting in Bangkok.
This is “the first time that a dramatic reduction in influenza severity duration, complications and antibiotic use” has been shown when Tamiflu was started within 24 hours of illness onset, study researcher Dr. Keith Reisinger, from Primary Physicians Research in Pittsburgh, told Reuters Health.
HPV common in sexually active male college students
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In a study of sexually active young male, heterosexual college students, almost two thirds developed genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection over 2 years of follow-up, according to Seattle-based researchers.
Certain strains of HPV, which can be transmitted from male to female partners, are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
Low vitamin D may raise respiratory infection risk
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There appears to be an association between low blood levels of vitamin D and the risk of acute respiratory tract infection, Finnish researchers report.
“In our study of 800 young Finnish men, we found that those with low vitamin D levels were more likely to contract respiratory infections than controls,” lead investigator Dr. Ilkka Laaksi told Reuters Health.
Patients with pneumonia who received pneumococcal vaccine have lower rate of death, ICU admission
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Among patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia, those who had previously received the pneumococcal vaccine had a lower risk of death and admission to the intensive care unit than patients who were not vaccinated, according to a report in the Oct. 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Community-acquired pneumonia is a common condition resulting in considerable illness and death, according to background information in the article. A vaccine against Streptococcus pneumoniae, one of the causes of pneumonia—23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine (PPV)—has been available since 1983.
Dermatologists Identify North Texas Leishmaniasis Outbreak
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A team of dermatologists and dermatopathologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center has identified nine North Texas cases of an infectious skin disease common in South America, Mexico and in the Middle East, where it is sometimes referred to as a “Baghdad boil.”
Numerous cases of the disease, called leishmaniasis, have been reported in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. But for the first time, cases of this dangerous infection are appearing in North Texas in patients who have not traveled to endemic areas.
Diabetes may impair tuberculosis treatment response
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Patients with tuberculosis and diabetes do not respond as well to tuberculosis therapy as those who are non-diabetic, Dutch researchers report.
The reason for this is unclear, but screening for and aggressively treating diabetes may improve the outcomes of patients receiving tuberculosis therapy, Dr. Reinout van Crevel, from Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, note in the current issue Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Infectious diseases spreading faster than ever
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Infectious diseases are emerging more quickly around the globe, spreading faster and becoming increasingly difficult to treat, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.
In its annual World Health Report, the United Nations agency warned there was a good possibility that another major scourge like AIDS, SARS or Ebola fever with the potential of killing millions would appear in the coming years.
Steroid Medications Ineffective in Treating Common Infant Lower Respiratory Infection
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For infants with a common and potentially serious viral lower respiratory infection called bronchiolitis, a widely used steroid treatment is not effective. A new study co-authored by Dr. Joan Bregstein of the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center found that steroid treatment did not prevent hospitalization or improve respiratory symptoms for bronchiolitis, the most common cause of infant hospitalization. Bronchiolitis symptoms frequently include fever, runny nose, coughing and wheezing.
The multicenter study, conducted by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN), is published in the July 26 New England Journal of Medicine.
