Rong Mei Zhang M.D. , Alexis M. McKee M.D. , Neil W. Anderson M.D.
{"title":"Sickeningly Sweet: Infectious Complications of Diabetes","authors":"Rong Mei Zhang M.D. , Alexis M. McKee M.D. , Neil W. Anderson M.D.","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2023.01.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2023.01.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Diabetes mellitus is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in the United States and is associated with a high incidence of infectious complications. These complications lead to increased morbidity, mortality, and utilization of the health care system by a large subset of the worldwide population. The mechanisms contributing to infection in a person living with diabetes are complex and include underlying pathology affecting physiologic functions ranging from adaptive immunity to skin integrity. In this review, we aim to summarize what is known about these pathologies. We highlight how common infections are unique and how certain unique infections are more common in persons with diabetes. Finally, we discuss the clinical presentations and diagnostic considerations pertinent to persons with diabetes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"45 1","pages":"Pages 1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49229347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mimi R. Precit Ph.D., D(ABMM), M(ASCP)CM , Emily A. Snavely Ph.D., D(ABMM) , Rachael M. Liesman Ph.D., D(ABMM)
{"title":"Don't Be So Negative; Let's Have a Positive Perspective! A Review of Novel Antibiotics Targeting Gram-Positive Bacteria","authors":"Mimi R. Precit Ph.D., D(ABMM), M(ASCP)CM , Emily A. Snavely Ph.D., D(ABMM) , Rachael M. Liesman Ph.D., D(ABMM)","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.12.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.12.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis, and the development of new antimicrobials is essential to reducing associated morbidity and mortality. Infections by multi-drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria have been at the forefront of this AMR </span>public health<span><span> emergency, often overshadowing the importance of novel treatment options for multi-drug-resistant Gram-positive bacterial infections. Here, we introduce and review a number of antimicrobial agents with activity against clinically significant Gram-positive </span>pathogens<span><span>, including difficult-to-treat staphylococci, streptococci<span>, enterococci, and Gram-positive </span></span>anaerobes. We describe antimicrobial agents in late-stage development, those that are newly approved, and those with existing FDA-approved clinical indications for which more recently the FDA expanded approval for novel indications. Overall, the goal of this review is to provide clinical microbiologists, infectious disease physicians, and pharmacists with current, relevant information about novel antibiotic agents effective against Gram-positive bacteria.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 24","pages":"Pages 219-228"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43144612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A special invitation to authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.12.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.12.002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 24","pages":"Page 228"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196439922000927/pdfft?md5=a670bd8a990b961be3a2dc5cfaa9c303&pid=1-s2.0-S0196439922000927-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90004752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elizabeth M. Garrett Ph.D., D(ABMM), April M. Bobenchik Ph.D., D(ABMM)
{"title":"Recent Advances in Direct Blood Culture Phenotypic Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing","authors":"Elizabeth M. Garrett Ph.D., D(ABMM), April M. Bobenchik Ph.D., D(ABMM)","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.005","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Increasing rates of antibiotic resistance<span> make selecting empiric therapy challenging for the treatment of sepsis and suspected </span></span>bloodstream infections<span><span> (BSIs). The time to initiation of effective therapy for BSIs is critical for positive patient outcomes. Recent advances in rapid diagnostics for the detection of BSIs directly from positive blood culture include rapid organism identification and rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Rapid AST methods include genotypic and phenotypic methods or a combination of both and provide important information to aid in the prompt initiation of effective therapy. Genotypic AST methods allow rapid direct detection of a resistance mechanism but may fail to accurately predict a full susceptibility profile, whereas phenotypic AST provides comprehensive results but is not rapid if conventional methods are used. Efforts to decrease the </span>turnaround time of phenotypic AST are an important advancement for the treatment of BSIs. Here, we review currently available and in-development phenotypic methods for AST directly from positive blood culture and their potential benefits for antimicrobial stewardship and patient care.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 23","pages":"Pages 209-216"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43479249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A special invitation to authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 23","pages":"Page 218"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196439922000885/pdfft?md5=a603bace147d1d335e1cfc5e1432de55&pid=1-s2.0-S0196439922000885-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136990864","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucas J. Osborn Ph.D. , Diana Villarreal M.D., Ph.D. , Noah Wald-Dickler M.D. , Jennifer Dien Bard Ph.D.
{"title":"Monkeypox: Clinical Considerations, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Diagnostics","authors":"Lucas J. Osborn Ph.D. , Diana Villarreal M.D., Ph.D. , Noah Wald-Dickler M.D. , Jennifer Dien Bard Ph.D.","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Monkeypox virus (MPXV) has garnered recent attention as outbreaks are continually reported outside historic regions of endemicity in Africa. Consequently, MPXV is becoming routinely included in the differential diagnosis of rash illnesses, requiring clinicians and laboratorians alike to quickly adapt to a new public health emergency. This review discusses the epidemiology, clinical presentation, and laboratory testing of MPXV in the context of recent outbreaks.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 22","pages":"Pages 199-208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9674185/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40708946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A special invitation to authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 22","pages":"Page 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196439922000836/pdfft?md5=edd51abe6427f3707843e1430b6c602b&pid=1-s2.0-S0196439922000836-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92124160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discontinuation of DNA Probes for Identification of Dimorphic Fungi Growing in Culture: What's a Lab To Do?","authors":"Tanis C. Dingle , Philippe J. Dufresne","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.11.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>The most common dimorphic fungi isolated from clinical specimens in North America are </span><span><span>Coccidioides immitis</span><span><em>, Coccidioides posadasii, </em><em>Blastomyces dermatitidis</em></span></span> species complex, and <span><em>Histoplasma capsulatum</em><em>.</em></span><span> These organisms are typically definitively identified at reference or public health<span><span> laboratories, as they are risk group 3 (RG3) pathogens requiring additional biosafety considerations compared to risk group 2 (RG2) pathogens. Reference and public health laboratories have been using organism-specific </span>DNA probes since the early 1990s as the primary method of confirming the identification of morphologically suspect dimorphic fungi growing in culture. At the end of November 2021, manufacturing of these probes was discontinued, leaving clinical laboratories responsible for dimorphic fungus identification with the task of validating and implementing a new identification method for these pathogens. Here, we discuss alternatives to DNA probes for identification of </span></span><em>Coccidioides</em> spp., <em>B. dermatitidis</em> species complex, and <em>H. capsulatum</em> growing in culture, including the strengths and limitations of each method.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 21","pages":"Pages 191-197"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48491573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Daniel A. Green M.D., Maxwell D. Weidmann M.D., Ph.D., Mahavrat S. Srivastava-Malick M.D.
{"title":"Diagnostic Stewardship: the Central Role of Clinical Microbiology Laboratories","authors":"Daniel A. Green M.D., Maxwell D. Weidmann M.D., Ph.D., Mahavrat S. Srivastava-Malick M.D.","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.10.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.10.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Diagnostic stewardship aims to improve diagnostic test utilization through evidence-based practices to improve care, quality, safety, and costs. Diagnostic stewardship is a collaborative effort that brings together multidisciplinary groups that have a common interest in promoting and ensuring best testing practices. For infectious disease testing, clinical microbiology<span> laboratories are perhaps best positioned within their health care systems to lead these efforts, as they are not only diagnostic experts, but also directly oversee many of the tools and choices available to improve test performance and utilization. While some interventions may not fall under the direct purview of clinical microbiology laboratories, their expertise is nevertheless essential to inform these efforts, as well. Multiple stewardship strategies have been evaluated, providing laboratories with several opportunities to implement evidence-based practice changes to improve quality and outcomes. Further research is needed to continue advancing practice for well-established and emerging tests alike.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 20","pages":"Pages 179-189"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49503889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A special invitation to authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.10.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinmicnews.2022.10.005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39211,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Microbiology Newsletter","volume":"44 20","pages":"Page 190"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196439922000757/pdfft?md5=1f63ff720d44bb7bbb8f050de611cc9d&pid=1-s2.0-S0196439922000757-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92230063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}