Infectious Disease

FDA reportedly aims to fully approve Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by early next month; Biogen’s Alzheimer drug sees little uptake; majority of Americans over 65 have received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Americans traveling to England will no longer need to quarantine; lack of ICU visits during COVID-19 pandemic affected patient health; sign-up window for COBRA subsidy to close.

With nearly all parts of the country seeing a steady increase in COVID-19 infection, health care and medical groups are calling for mandatory vaccinations of their staff, and on Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs, New York City, and California also announced vaccine requirements for workers.

Clinicians should avoid prescribing acid-suppression medications in general, and especially proton-pump inhibitors, to patients with Clostridioides difficile infection, according to the study.

Patients prescribed proton pump inhibitors had roughly double the risk of community-associated Clostridioides difficile infection compared with those not taking the drugs.

With the delta variant now dominant in the United States, study results highlight the need for officials to do everything they can to increase vaccine uptake.

Altered microbiota and inflammation associated with irritable bowel disease (IBD) appear to make it more difficult for patients to fight off Clostridioides difficile infection, according to a recent study.

Touching one’s face can heighten infection risk, but it may also help protect the body by fostering microbial diversity, according to a recent study.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they will seek approval for a booster shot of their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, while US health authorities said a booster is not necessary. In addition, the CDC emphasized in-person learning for schools this fall in updated guidance.

New data suggest a microbiota-based therapy can reduce C diff recurrence in patients where donor microbiota and patient microbiota successfully converge.

Two Americans and a British scientist share the 2020 Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work in the 1970s through the 1990s. The rise of agents to treat hepatitis C virus has created vexing questions in managed care.

The FDA is anticipated to release a finalized guidance document any day now around the regulation of fecal microbiota transplants for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection. The outcome will dictate how they’re priced, who oversees their use, and who can make money off the treatment.

Another study dispelling concerns about links between the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism has been released, this time with additional focus about subgroups of children.

The incidence of multiply recurrent Clostridium difficile infection is increasing in the United States, leading to a higher demand for new treatments, according to a recent study.