October 2010 Briefing - Infectious Disease

Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Infectious Disease for October 2010. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.

CDC Warns Travelers of Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

FRIDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned those traveling to Haiti to celebrate All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day to take precautions to protect themselves from cholera.

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Pneumonia Vaccination Rate Has Increased in Older Adults

FRIDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The number of elderly Americans who get vaccinated against pneumonia has increased, but the proportion is still less than 60 percent, and disparities exist among ethnic and racial groups, according to the 2009 National Healthcare Disparities Report, published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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CDC: Second Dose of Meningitis Vaccine Recommended

THURSDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel has recommended that 16-year-olds get a meningitis booster shot, as the vaccine does not appear to last as long as previously thought.

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CDC: Whooping Cough Vaccine Recommended for Elderly

THURSDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that adults aged 65 years and older who are in close contact with infants be vaccinated against whooping cough.

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n-3 Fatty Acids May Protect Against Periodontitis

THURSDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as those found in fish oils, may be effective for preventing and treating periodontitis, according to research published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

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Probe-to-Bone Best Test for Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The best and most efficient test for diagnosing chronic osteomyelitis of the foot in patients with diabetes may be the probe-to-bone (PTB) test, according to research published in the October issue of Diabetes Care.

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Sepsis in Elderly Linked to Lost Cognition, Functionality

TUESDAY, Oct. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Elderly patients who are hospitalized for severe sepsis are at increased risk of substantial new cognitive impairment and diminished functionality, according to a study in the Oct. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Primary Care Trails Other Specialties in Hourly Wages

TUESDAY, Oct. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Primary care physicians have substantially lower hourly wages than other specialists, and although most physicians find Medicare reimbursement inequitable, they show little consensus on how to reform it, according to two studies published in the Oct. 25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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New Bivalent Poliovirus Vaccine Appears Effective

TUESDAY, Oct. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A novel bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV) against poliovirus types 1 and 3 appears to be superior to trivalent OPV (tOPV) and non-inferior to monovalent type 1 OPV (mOPV1) and mOPV3, according to a study published online Oct. 26 in The Lancet.

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Teens With Both-Sex Partners Engage in Risky Behaviors

TUESDAY, Oct. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one in 10 sexually active adolescents reports a same-sex partner, and those who have partners of both sexes report behaviors that put them at risk for sexually transmitted infections, according to research published online Oct. 25 in Pediatrics.

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Vaccination Rate Down in Privately-Insured Children

MONDAY, Oct. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Vaccination rates among children with private health insurance have decreased -- possibly because of unproven fears that vaccines cause autism -- and rates among children with Medicaid have increased, according to the new State of Health Care Quality report released by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

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Infections Exert Heavy Mortality Toll in Cirrhosis

FRIDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with cirrhosis, infections are associated with a steep increase in one-year mortality risk, according to research published in the October issue of Gastroenterology.

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HIV Drug Invirase Gets New Label Reflecting Risk

THURSDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- New risk information has been added to the label of the HIV antiviral drug Invirase (saquinavir), notifying patients and health care professionals that the drug can have potentially life-threatening adverse effects when used in combination with another antiviral drug, according to an announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Pneumococcal Meningitis Remains Cause of Deafness

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Although pneumococcal vaccination has reduced invasive disease, pneumococcal meningitis as a cause of deafness among children has not been eliminated, according to a study in the October issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery.

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Less Than Half of Encephalitis Due to Infectious Diseases

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Less than one-half of encephalitis cases in England were found to be attributable to infectious diseases, with the cause of encephalitis unclear in more than one-third of patients with a poor prognosis, according to a study published online Oct. 18 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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Medicaid Reimbursement Rate Affects Flu Shots for Children

TUESDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Higher Medicaid reimbursement rates for influenza vaccine administration are associated with an increase in the number of low-income level children who will receive one, according to research published online Oct. 18 in Pediatrics.

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Researchers Identify Most Common HPV Types

MONDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Eight types of human papillomavirus (HPV) appear to be responsible for over 90 percent of the world's cervical cancer cases; researchers recommend these eight types be the target for future vaccines and that the three most common high-risk HPV types -- 16, 18, and 45 -- which occur in younger women, should be the focus of type-specific HPV screening. Their findings have been published online Oct. 18 in The Lancet Oncology.

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Baraclude Sanctioned for Severe Liver Disease

MONDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb said Monday its liver drug Baraclude (entecavir) has received expanded approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat chronic hepatitis B in adults with decompensated liver disease, a form of severe liver damage.

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CDC Compares Accuracy of Fever Screening Systems

MONDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Two of three infrared thermal detection systems (ITDS) tested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reliably distinguish people with and without fever better than individual self reports, according to research published in the November issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

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Experimental HCV Drug Combination Shows Potential

FRIDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental oral drug combination appears to be well-tolerated and safe, showing promising antiviral activity for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, according to a study published online Oct. 15 in The Lancet.

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Rates of Recommended Tdap Vaccination Low

FRIDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Use of tetanus vaccine changed little between 1999 and 2008, and uptake of licensed tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine has been low, according to research published in the Oct. 15 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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Sex Practices Driving Surge in HPV-Linked Oral Cancer

THURSDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Changing sexual practices, including increased oral sex, multiple sex partners, and an early start of sexual activity, are behind an epidemic of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) linked to sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), according to an article in the November issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

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Studies Assess Regimens After Nevirapine

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- In women with HIV-1 who have taken peripartum single-dose nevirapine, the use of ritonavir-boosted lopinavir with tenofovir-emtricitabine is associated with better outcomes than therapy featuring nevirapine, and in children with prior nevirapine exposure, benefits are seen with zidovudine and lamivudine plus ritonavir-boosted lopinavir, according to two studies published in the Oct. 14 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

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Flu Vaccination Can Prevent Future Epidemic Wave

FRIDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Influenza vaccination can mitigate the impact of additional waves in an influenza epidemic even when it appears an epidemic is subsiding, according to research published online Oct. 5 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Rates Up Slightly in Children

FRIDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Seasonal influenza vaccination coverage rates among children were low for the 2009/2010 season, though they did increase some over the 2008/2009 season, and, from June through September of 2010, low levels of influenza activity were reported, according to two reports published in the Oct. 8 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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Many Americans Do Not Plan to Receive Flu Vaccination

THURSDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Almost all physicians plan to get vaccinated against influenza this season and most also discuss the vaccine with patients. However, more than 40 percent of Americans in general do not plan to get vaccinated this season, many of whom have misconceptions about the vaccine or the disease, according to survey results announced by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) at an Oct. 7 news conference.

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Artemether-Lumefantrine As Effective As Quinine

THURSDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDay News) -- The combination of artemether and lumefantrine appears to be better tolerated than, and as effective as, oral quinine for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, according to a study published online Oct. 6 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

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Flu Vaccine in Pregnancy Reduces Infants' Infection Risk

TUESDAY, Oct. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Women who receive a seasonal influenza vaccination while pregnant may be sparing their infants from risk of influenza, influenza-like illness (ILI), and related hospitalization, according to research published online Oct. 4 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

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Age at Cancer Diagnosis Similar in AIDS, General Populations

TUESDAY, Oct. 5 (HealthDay News) -- After adjustment for the lower proportion of older-age patients among the AIDS population, most cancers in this population are diagnosed at an age similar to that in the general population, according to research published in the Oct. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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Study Highlights U.S. Adult and Adolescent Sexual Behaviors

MONDAY, Oct. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Initial findings from the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB), published in nine separate research articles in a special October issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, highlight the sexual behaviors and condom use of U.S. adolescents and adults.

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