Highlights From Infectious Disease Week 2022—COVID-19, HIV, Monkeypox, and Polio
This year’s Infectious Disease Week highlighted several topics, ranging from evaluations of COVID-19 treatment to updates on the monkeypox outbreak. The good news is even though monkeypox was on the rise, it’s actually going down right now. The New York State Department of Health also investigated with the CDC polio cases. And the strain of the polio is not a wild type: this is a strain that comes from oral vaccines. Oral polio vaccines are not used in the US but are still used in other parts of the world. The ALTAR [Alternative to Prophylactic Antibiotics for the Treatment of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Women] trial presented at the conference compared methenamine, which is, for lack of a better word, a urinary antiseptic. Using methenamine when compared to prophylactic antibiotics was similarly effective at preventing recurrent urinary tract infections.
Full Access: JAMA
Paxlovid and Long COVID
A new report from the Veterans Affairs health system (now in preprint), the largest in the United States, is the first study to look at longer term effects. Researchers studied over 9,000 Paxlovid treated patients (within 5 days of symptom onset; in March-June 2022 during Omicron and subvariant waves) and compared the results to 47,000 controls. The results of reducing the toll of Long Covid, its complications, and extending benefit of survival and avoidance of hospitalizations out to 1-year were all notable.
Full Access: Medscape
Post-discharge Glucocorticoid Use and Clinical Outcomes of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children
In this cohort study including 186 US children with MIS-C, severity of inpatient illness was not associated with duration of post-discharge glucocorticoid treatment; clinical outcomes were similar in patients prescribed shorter courses. Significant weight gain was common, but recurrent inflammation following hospital discharge was infrequent. The findings of this study suggest that glucocorticoid tapers of less than 3 weeks are likely sufficient to treat MIS-C following discharge; shortening tapers is an important goal to avoid morbidity.
Full Access: JAMA
Promising New Antibiotic Emerges for Treating UTIs
Called Gepotidacin, the antibiotic’s trial has halted enrollment early due to excellent effectiveness and safety results thus far, drugmaker GSK announced in a press release recently. GSK will seek approval and peer-reviewed publication early next year. It would be the first new treatment in 20 years for UTIs.
Full Access: Medscape