Research Roundup: Covid; MRSA; Community-Acquired Pneumonia; Alzheimer’s; Decompensated Cirrhosis

CIDRAP:
Study: SARS-CoV-2 Was Evolutionarily Poised To Jump From Bats To Humans

SARS-CoV-2 has undergone few variations because it jumped from bats to people, sparking the COVID-19 pandemic, a examine printed late final week in PLOS Biology reveals.UK, US, and Belgian researchers sequenced 133,741 human SARS-CoV-2 genomes from December 2019 to October 2020 and 69 coronavirus genomes from horseshoe bats to establish novel variations to the human host. Lead writer Oscar MacLean, PhD, of the University of Glasgow, stated in a PLOS information launch that the findings do not imply that there have been no modifications, solely that they haven’t been evolutionarily important. (3/15)

CIDRAP:
Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections Rise During Pandemic

A brand new examine from researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals a big improve in central line–related bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in US acute care hospitals through the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Published yesterday in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the examine analyzed 13,136 inpatient models from 2,986 acute care hospitals and located that the standardized an infection ratio (SIR) for CLABSI’s in April, May, and June of 2020 climbed by 28% in contrast with the identical months in 2019, from 0.68 to 0.87. Critical care models noticed the best share improve (39%) in SIR, from 0.75 in 2019 to 1.04 in 2020, and ward places skilled the second highest improve (13%). Critical care places had the very best variety of CLABSIs within the second quarter of 2020, with 1,911. (3/16)

American Academy Of Pediatrics:
Factors Associated With Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection 

Initial stories on extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in kids steered that very younger age and comorbidities could improve danger of extreme evolution, however these findings remained to be confirmed. We aimed to investigate the scientific spectrum of hospitalized pediatric SARS-CoV-2 an infection and predictors of extreme illness evolution. (Ouldali et al, 3/1)

Also —

CIDRAP:
VA Study Links Contact Precautions With Reduced MRSA Transmission

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals that carried out contact precautions for sufferers with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had a virtually 50% discount in MRSA transmission, researchers reported this week in JAMA Network Open. In the examine, researchers from the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System and the University of Utah School of Medicine utilized mathematical fashions to knowledge from sufferers admitted to VA acute care hospitals from January 2008 by December 2017 to find out whether or not contact precautions for MRSA carriers had any affect on patient-to-patient transmission. Contact precautions, which contain using gloves and robes by healthcare workers when interacting with MRSA carriers and their setting, are one aspect of the MRSA Prevention Initiative launched by the VA in 2007, however their effectiveness has been questioned. Other parts embrace surveillance and hand hygiene. (3/15)

CIDRAP:
Randomized Trial Supports Shorter Antibiotic Course For Kids’ Pneumonia

The outcomes of a randomized scientific trial recommend a shorter course of antibiotics in kids who’ve community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is as efficient as an extended course, Canadian researchers reported this week in JAMA Pediatrics. The noninferiority trial, involving kids at two Canadian hospitals who had CAP that didn’t require hospitalization, discovered that scientific remedy charges had been comparable in kids handled with 5 days of amoxicillin versus these handled with 10 days. (Dall, 3/12)

New England Journal of Medicine:
Donanemab In Early Alzheimer’s Disease 

A trademark of Alzheimer’s illness is the buildup of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide. Donanemab, an antibody that targets a modified type of deposited Aβ, is being investigated for the therapy of early Alzheimer’s illness. (Mintun et al, 3/13)

JAMA Network:
Deficits In Advance Care Planning For Patients With Decompensated Cirrhosis At Liver Transplant Centers

How is advance care planning skilled by sufferers with decompensated cirrhosis and clinicians at liver transplant facilities? In this qualitative examine of 46 transplant middle clinicians and 42 sufferers with decompensated cirrhosis, semistructured interviews discovered that regardless of affected person curiosity in discussing end-of-life points, few such conversations occurred between sufferers and clinicians. Conversations centered on the necessity for liver transplant quite than on end-of-life decision-making, with which surrogate determination makers typically struggled. (Patel et al, 3/15)