EFFECT OF 7 VS 14 DAYS OF ANTIBIOTIC THERAPY ON RESOLUTION OF SYMPTOMS AMONG AFEBRILE MEN WITH URINARY TRACT INFECTION – A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL
Antibiotics are frequently prescribed for UTI without clinical evidence. In this randomized clinical trial that included 272 men with presumed symptomatic UTI, resolution of initial UTI symptoms by 14 days after completion of active antibiotic therapy occurred in 93.1%participants in the 7-day group and 90.2% in the 14-day group, a difference that met the prespecified noninferiority margin of 10%. Researchers concluded that A 7-day course of ciprofloxacin or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for presumed, symptomatic UTI in afebrile men was noninferior to 14 days of treatment, a randomized trial showed.

Full Access: JAMA

FLORIDA BREAKS RECORD FOR COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, The State of Florida had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases. The previous record was from July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations. Additionally, there has been a startling rise in the number of children with the virus at hospitals in Miami, many of them requiring intensive care.

Full Access: Medscape

ISRAEL TO OFFER PFIZER BOOSTER SHOT AGAINST COVID-19 TO THE OVER-60S
Israel will begin offering a third shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to people aged over 60, a world first in efforts to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Israel was a world leader in the vaccination rollout, but since the emergence of the Delta variant, the health ministry has twice reported a drop in the vaccine’s efficacy against infection and a slight decrease in its protection against severe disease. The booster campaign, with shots administered by health maintenance organizations, will effectively turn Israel into a testing ground for a third dose before approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Full Access: Medscape 

UNTREATABLE, DRUG-RESISTANT FUNGUS FOUND IN TEXAS AND WASHINGTON, DC
The CDC has reported two clusters of Candida auris infections resistant to all anti-fungal medications in long-term care facilities in 2021; because these pan-resistant infections occurred without any exposure to antifungal drugs, the cases are even more worrisome. Candida auris is an emerging, often multidrug-resistant yeast that is highly transmissible, resulting in health care–associated outbreaks.

These clusters are the first time such nosocomial transmission has been detected and reports that colonization of skin with C auris can lead to invasive infections in 5%-10% of affected patients are of great concern.
Full Access: Medscape

FDA OKAYS REGENERON COVID-19 ANTIBODY AS PREVENTIVE IN HIGH-RISK SETTINGS
The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded the emergency use authorization of Regeneron COVID-19 antibody cocktail, enabling its use as a preventive treatment for the illness in certain people. The authorization enables the therapy to be used in people exposed to an infected individual, or who are at high risk of exposure to an infected individual in settings such as nursing homes or prisons. REGEN-COV, a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab, protected household contacts from exposure to SARS-CoV-2, with 72% protection against symptomatic infections in the first week, and 93% after that, according to trial data released by the company in April.
Full Access: Medscape