Topics in Clinical Biosecurity: Miscellaneous Infectious Diseases

Listed below are all CBN articles on Miscellaneous Infectious Diseases published since 2005

• 03-13-2020: Get Ready for a 1918-like Scenario While we can hope for the best, we cannot exclude the possibility of a Wuhan-like outbreak in your city. Hospitals should be all-out preparing for their worst-case scenario.
• 01-22-2020: A Novel Coronavirus – Determining Its Spread and Severity The last several days of infectious disease headlines have been focused on a mysterious outbreak in Wuhan, China, that has many concerning characteristics.
• 09-23-2019: Explaining the Rising Tide of Scarlet Fever in the UK with Molecular Epidemiology Scarlet fever is often thought of as an infectious disease from another century, but the United Kingdom has been experiencing a record number of cases since 2014.
• 05-30-2019: Unknown Infectious Syndromes: Fertile Ground for Viral Discovery Pandemic preparedness not only includes preparing for known, well-characterized pandemic risks but also anticipating new threats.
• 05-14-2019: Understanding the Human-to-Human Transmissibility of Nipah A new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, aims to identify risk factors for human-to-human transmission of Nipah virus in Bangladesh.
• 05-09-2019: Sudden Fulminant Infection-caused Deaths: A Biological Dark Matter Universe Half of fulminant deaths from infection escape diagnosis
• 11-26-2018: Machine Learning to Identify the Attributes Influencing Zoonotic Virus Emergence Overview of an important new study that illustrates how machine learning can identify attributes influencing zoonotic virus emergence.
• 10-03-2018: The Value of Legionella and Pneumococcal Testing in Pneumonia A new study questions the use of urinary antigen tests in community acquired pneumonia but supports their continued use in the work up of respiratory infections
• 07-24-2018: What Lurks in the 42% of Cases of Meningitis Without an Identified Cause? A new British study, published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, finds that the microbiologic etiology of meningitis often not discovered.
• 06-05-2018: The Etiology of Sepsis in Uganda A new study used sophisticated and comprehensive diagnostic technology and details causes of sepsis in Uganda.
• 05-21-2018: The Essential Elements of Pandemic Pathogens To optimally prepare for pandemics, it is essential to possess some understanding of what types of pathogens are most likely to cause a pandemic.
• 04-13-2018: Monkeypox: Spread in Nonendemic Countries Report on the reemergence of monkeypox in Nigeria after a nearly 40-year absence. The disease has been facilitated by the ending of routine smallpox vaccination
• 01-05-2018: Culture-Negative Septic Shock: Equally Deadly New research shows that the cause of sepsis is often unclear but the outcome is similar whether cultures are positive or not.
• 12-01-2017: The Role of Parainfluenza Viruses in Severe Respiratory Infections A new study suggests that parainfluenza viruses might play a most important role in serious illness than previously recognized.
• 11-17-2017: Herd Immunity: Keeping Zika at Bay, For Now Zika infection rates appear to have ebbed, a new study reveals that Zika’s extraordinary trajectory may explain its diminished ability to cause new infections.
• 09-29-2017: Critical Illness and MERS A new retrospective multicenter cohort study focused on critically ill MERS patients in Saudi Arabia and provides important information.
• 08-04-2017: New Zika Testing Strategy to Avoid False Positives in Pregnant Women The discovery that IgM antibodies persist for periods longer than 12 weeks, the CDC has released new interim guidance for testing pregnant women.
• 05-12-2017: MERS Serosurveys: Waning Antibody Levels Complicate Epidemiologic Surveillance With every infectious disease, there is a spectrum of illness that can range from fulminant fatal disease to completely asymptomatic disease.
• 04-21-2017: CNS Infections in the US: Room for Improvement in Treatment Infections of the central nervous system are one of the most challenging aspects of infectious disease medicine.
• 04-07-2017: Coronavirus HKU1 Infections in Cleveland A new report reveals the incidence of coronavirus infections among a series of patients in Cleveland with respiratory infections.
• 01-27-2017: Seoul Virus Outbreak Highlights Ongoing Risk of Zoonotic Viruses CDC has alerted clinicians about an outbreak of Seoul hantavirus in the Midwest related to home-based rat breeding.
• 12-30-2016: Bypassing Rural Hospitals for Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Increases Mortality A new study suggest that bypassing the closest hospital in order to reach a tertiary hospital may increase mortality among septic patents.
• 12-16-2016: The US Zika Pregnancy Registry: A Preliminary Analysis Provides Important Insight A detailed exploration of the US Zika Pregnancy Registry reveals that 6% of babies born to mothers in the US with confirmed Zika had Zika related birth defects.
• 12-02-2016: Targeting the Virulence Factors of MRSA A new report suggests that despite antimicrobial “resistance” oxacillin may be an effective adjunctive treatment for MRSA.
• 11-04-2016: Candida auris: An Emerging Fungal Infectious Disease A new paper reports on the multinational emergence of an ominous new pathogen, drug-resistant Candida auris, a fungus that tends to infect compromised patients.
• 10-21-2016: Significant Reduction in Hospitalizations Despite Influenza Vaccine Mismatch A study demonstrates that even during a year of influenza vaccine “mismatch,” vaccination may decrease the incidence of hospitalization.
• 10-07-2016: The Benign Course of Postnatal Zika Infection New evidence suggests that Zika infection in children usually has a benign clinical course with no immediately obvious neurological manifestations.
• 09-23-2016: Livestock-associated MRSA: A Foodborne Illness? One of the main fronts in the battle against antimicrobial resistance involves the presence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria in the food supply.
• 09-02-2016: Vertical Transmission of Zika: Of Epidemiologic Significance? We discuss the epidemiological significance of a new study that suggests that Zika may be passed from one generation of mosquitos to another through their eggs.
• 08-19-16: Hutterite Flu Vaccine Trial: Questions on Optimal Flu Vaccine In a study, children in 52 Hutterite colonies received IIV or LAIV to assess whether LAIV was superior in inducing herd immunity.
• 08-05-2016: Learning from the First Autochthonous Zika Outbreak This issue provides an update on the local transmission of Zika in Florida and speculates on the risk of further transmission in the US.
• 07-22-2016: Infection Control in a Superspreading Event: MERS in South Korea A recently published article documents the experience of a South Korean tertiary care center’s infection control activities during the MERS outbreak.
• 06-24-2016: Facilitating Antibiotic Stewardship with Procalcitonin As antibiotic overuse becomes an increasing concern, a study tests procalcitonin to help discontinue antibiotics.
• 06-10-2016: Pre-Zika Public Attitudes Toward Genetically Modified Mosquitoes New survey shows that prior to Zika many in Key West were opposed to the use of genetically modified mosquitoes to mitigate the risk of mosquito-borne diseases.
• 05-27-2016: Zika and Solid Organ Transplantation: Expert Guidance When an emerging infectious disease becomes endemic, we cope with it differently. Transplant surgery is uniquely attuned to the risk of infections.
• 05-13-2016: Tetanus-Diphtheria Boosters: Is 10 Years Too Soon to Boost? A new study demonstrates nearly lifelong immunity to tetanus and decades-long immunity to diphtheria after the initial vaccination series.
• 04-29-2016: Elizabethkingia, Situational Awareness, and Astute Clinicians We review what is known about the large and expanding epidemic in the upper mid- west of this highly lethal and rarely recognized bacterial pathogen.
• 04-15-2016: Sepsis and Chikungunya A new study sheds light on cases of sepsis and death resulting from chikungunya infection which typically has been thought to have a low case fatality rate.
• 03-18-2016: Quantifying the Impact of the Unvaccinated A new literature review reveals that most cases of measles in the US can be attributed to lack of vaccination and most of that was for nonmedical reasons.
• 03-04-16: Redefining Sepsis The SCCM has issued a new definition for sepsis and septic shock based on life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by dysregulated host response.
• 02-19-2016: Zika Virus: Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns The apparent explosive spread of the Zika virus and its association with apparent rises in cases of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome is alarming.
• 01-22-2016: Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Opportunity for Antimicrobial Stewardship Molecular diagnostic testing was able to identify a specific microbiologic diagnosis in over 80% of community acquired pneumonia cases in a new study
• 12-04-2015: Fluoroquinolone Resistance in the Wild A new study finds surprisingly high rates of fluoroquinolone resistance in E. coli even in people with no recent antibiotic exposure.
• 11-20-2015: Modeling a Postantibiotic World A new paper shows a substantial increase in illness and deaths due to resistant infections in patients undergoing surgery and chemotherapy.
• 10-16-2015: The Role of the Occult Infection in Falls Study found a surprisingly high incidence of unrecognized infection among patients who presented to a hospital because of a fall and were subsequently admitted.
• 09-04-2015: The Indirect Protection of Pneumococcal Vaccines Study shows that the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in adults correlates with the pneumococcal vaccination rates in children living near them.
• 07-31-15: Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Viral Storm A study finds that the etiology of most cases of community acquired pneumonia cannot be determined but that viral causes were found twice as often as bacterial
• 06-12-15: West African Travel-Related Illnesses: Not Just Ebola A new study highlights the importance of travel histories—not just for Ebola or MERS. The most frequent cause of fever in travelers from West Africa is malaria.
• 05-29-2015: Afebrile Influenza in Healthcare Workers One of the chief means of arresting the spread of influenza through healthcare facilities is vaccination of healthcare workers.
• 05-15-2015: Improving Antibiotic Stewardship Through Better Diagnostics A recent study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases assesses the ability of this biomarker to influence antibiotic stewardship.
• 05-01-2015: Asymptomatic H5N1 Avian Influenza Infections A new, well-designed and well-controlled study in Egypt demonstrates a low level of asymptomatic infection in people exposed to backyard poultry.
• 04-17-2015: Statins in Sepsis: An Idea Whose Time May Have Passed Deshpande and colleagues recently published a meta-analysis of randomized trials that used statins to treat sepsis found that they have no effect.
• 04-03-2015: National Action Plan Developed for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria The White House released a national action plan to address the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance, special attention is given to hospital-based initiatives
• 02-06-15: The Role of Camels in MERS Transmission The MERS-CoV, which has been spreading in the Middle East, is likely to have originated in bats, spread to camels, and then spilled into the human species.
• 01-23-2015: Telemedicine: A Force Multiplier for the ID Physician Telemedicine is increasingly being recognized as a transformative technology that has the capacity to improve medical care delivery.
• 11-14-2014:Chagas Disease in the US: An Underestimated Emerging Infectious Disease Threat While many emerging infectious diseases are characterized by rapid, explosive outbreaks, some may be marked by an insidious, unrecognized spread.
• 09-12-2014: Severe Respiratory Illness due to Enterovirus D68 There are many strains of EV, most cause simple colds but a few have been known to cause outbreaks of severe respiratory disease.
• 08-01-2014: Harnessing the Power of Convalescents for Severe Viral Infections The use of convalescent serum has sometimes been advocated for the treatment of acute severe viral diseases for which no specific countermeasure exists.
• 07-18-2014: Rescuing Severe ARDS Patients A new study demonstrates long-term survival for most patients who receive rescue therapies for severe ARDS and survive to hospital discharge.
• 07-03-2014: Resurgence of Vaccine-Preventable Childhood Diseases The CDPH reported on an ongoing epidemic of pertussis. A total of 1,100 new cases have been reported in the 2 weeks ending June 24, 2014.
• 05-30-2014: Novel Heartland Virus Responsible for Two Deaths in the US Heartland virus has been found in 7 people in 3 states. All cases have been males over age 50; most reported tick bites; fever, thrombocytopenia, and leukopenia
• 05-02-2014: Update on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Over the past several weeks, the pace of the MERS-CoV epidemic, which had been slow but sustained, has increased dramatically.
• 03-07-2014: Mumps Outbreak at Fordham University Several vaccine-preventable diseases are reappearing, seemingly as a result of waning immunity, lax attitudes about vaccination, and importations from abroad.
• 01-24-2014: Chikungunya--Coming to America: Last month, St. Martin reported cases of chikungunya. Since then, the virus has spread to several other islands, and there are now about 500 cases.
• 01-10-2014: Powassan Encephalitis in Maine As diagnostic testing for unexplained CNS infections increases, the true spread of viruses that cause them may become more apparent.
• 12-20-2013: SARS: Beyond Amoy Gardens A research team revisited the Amoy Gardens SARS outbreak to assess whether the airborne spread of SARS extended beyond the housing complex.
• 12-06-2013: Antimicrobial Resistance--A Call to Action A document just published makes a strong case for addressing the problem of antimicrobial resistance now, before it leads to a global public health emergency.
• 11-22-2013: Princeton Meningitis Outbreak A 7-person outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease on the campus of Princeton University highlights some of the persistent difficulties with this pathogen.
• 11-08-2013: Cholera in Mexico The cholera epidemic in Haiti has caused more than 600,000 cases and 8,000 fatalities and is prompting concern about wider spread into the Western Hemisphere.
• 10-11-2013: The Value of an ID Specialist ID specialists examine patients, review records and results, think about an illness, delineate diagnoses, focus testing, and prescribe treatment.
• 09-27-2013: The Burden of Coronavirus Besides MERS and SARS, 4 other CoVs infect humans. Two (229E, OC43) have been known as human pathogens for decades; 2 (NL63, HKU1) were discovered post-SARS.
• 08-09-2013: Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Spotlights Risk of Uncommon Pathogen A multistate outbreak of more than 400 cases of Cyclospora infection has thrust a relatively rare—and seldom tested for—protozoan pathogen into the headlines.
• 07-26-2013: US TB Outbreaks Highlight Investigative and Therapeutic Challenges US tuberculosis (TB) rates continue to decline, but surveillance, control, and treatment remain challenging and expensive.
• 07-12-2013: Blastomycosis Cluster in Wisconsin Blastomycosis is a systemic infectious disease caused by infection with the fungus Blastomyces dermatidis. In 2010, an unusual uptick occurred in Wisconsin.
• 05-31-2013: EV71 and Acute Flaccid Paralysis Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is increasingly recognized as a pathogen that could cause severe disease and widespread infection during periodic outbreaks.
• 02-08-2013: Monoclonal Antibodies for Biodefense Center for Biosecurity makes the case for expanding development of mAbs for biodefense because they confer several important advantages over other MCMs.
• 11-23-2012: Center Proposes New Approach for ARDS Care during Pandemics and Beyond Patients with severe lung injury and minimal co-morbid conditions would fare better if quickly transferred to a dedicated center with expertise in managing ARDS
• 09-07-2012: Hantavirus in Yosemite Tourists Eight cases (3 fatal) of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome occurred in tourists exposed to the murine-spread virus at Yosemite this summer.
• 08-24-2012: The Increasing Burden of West Nile Virus More than 500 cases of West Nile virus have been reported in Dallas which prompted the Texas city to declare state of emergency on August 15.
• 08-10-2012: Asymptomatic Rabies The results of a recently published study provide important new insights into the pathophysiology of rabies and point to new directions in research.
• 01-20-2012: Totally Drug Resistant Tuberculosis The treatment of tuberculosis (TB), once the leading cause of death from an infectious disease, is now complicated by antimicrobial resistance
• 06-06-2011: E. coli Infection and Hemolytic-uremic Syndrome WHO announced (5/27/2011) investigation of large outbreak of HUS that began in 2nd week of May 2011; causative agent is uncommon and virulent strain of E. coli.
• 03-03-2011: Social Network Analysis and Whole Genome Sequencing Aid in TB Outbreak Investigation Tuberculosis (TB) outbreak investigation traditionally has been conducted through “shoe-leather epidemiology,”
• 01-21-2011: Airborne Transmission of Prions The assumption that prion diseases spread exclusively by ingestion or direct inoculation has been challenged by results of a study by Haybaeck et al.
• 12-03-2010: Cholera in Haiti and Beyond There have been 7 distinct cholera pandemics during the last 2 centuries. The current pandemic, caused by the El Tor biotype, has been occurring since 1961
• 09-03-2010: Typhoid Fever: A Reemerging Threat? Salmonella is known for causing gastroenteritis. Organisms of the Salmonella genus also cause the more serious illness typhoid (or enteric) fever.
• 07-30-2010: Is Rift Valley Fever Virus a Real Risk for the United States? With extensive travel occurring between SA and the U.S. during the World Cup, a reappraisal of the risk of RVFV disease in the U.S. is warranted.
• 07-22-2010: Pertussis Resurgent in California Whooping cough, or pertussis, a disease thought by many to be of historical significance only, has steadily resurged and, in a few cases, has been deadly.
• 11-30-2007: National Academies Report on Boston BSL-4 Laboratory Yesterday, a NRC committee deemed an NIH risk analysis for a proposed biocontainment laboratory at Boston University to be “not sound and credible."
• 06-07-2007: Learning from the XDR-TB Experience: Policy Priorities Going Forward Careful examination of government and public responses to the recent case of Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is critical.
• 11-10-2006: The Potential Disaster of Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis At the recent meeting of the IDSA, Dr. Henry Blumberg of the Emory University School of Medicine presented a comprehensive review of tuberculosis in the world.
• 09-06-2006: Outbreak of Highly Lethal, Extensive Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in South Africa On September 5, 2006, the WHO posted information on an outbreak of highly lethal “Extensive (or Extreme) Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB)” in South Africa.
• 09-12-2005: Sewage Contamination Last week, one of our subscribers wrote asking for advice about prophylaxis for bacterial contamination for those exposed to sewage.
• 09-07-2005: Katrina Relief Update #1 Hurricane Katrina Relief Update - The NIH has established a Katrina Call Center to provide medical consultation services.
• 06-02-2005: SARS, With the Benefit of Hindsight Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) first appeared on November 16, 2002 in the Guangdong Province of southern China.