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Five medical organizations release new guidance for preventing hospital-acquired pneumonia

In the second in series of updates on guidance for infection control in acute-care hospitals, five medical organizations are recommending best practices for preventing hospital-associated pneumonia. Pneumonia is the most common and deadly healthcare-associated infection.

20 May 2022

Treatment with imatinib results in lower mortality rates for patients with severe COVID-19

Patients with severe COVID-19 who were given imatinib had lower mortality rates at 90-day follow-up, according to research published at the ATS 2022 international conference.

18 May 2022

‘That’s just part of aging’: Long covid symptoms are often overlooked in seniors

Nearly 18 months after getting covid-19 and spending weeks in the hospital, Terry Bell struggles with hanging up his shirts and pants after doing the laundry.

18 May 2022

Differences in COVID-19 outcomes related to sex

Researchers looked at gender variations in COVID-19 outcomes such as hospitalization, ICU admission, mortality, and heart damage.

9 May 2022

Approximately 13% of hospitalized COVID patients have serious neurologic symptoms

In a recent study in the journal Critical Care Explorations, the Viral Infection and Respiratory Illness Universal Study (VIRUS): COVID-19 Registry was used to record significant neurologic signs of SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as prehospital risk factors and outcomes.

9 May 2022

Study reveals why some lungs are protected against COVID

COVID-19 vaccines have saved at least a million lives in the United States alone, but for many people, a lingering fear remains: if - or when - they get hit by the coronavirus, just how bad will it be? Will they breeze through with little more than a sore throat - or will it saddle them with long-term complications, perhaps even push them to the brink of death?

6 May 2022

Past cancer history not linked with increased mortality or hospitalization due to COVID-19

Patients diagnosed with cancer more than one year ago and those not receiving active treatment were no more vulnerable to worse COVID-19 outcomes than patients without cancer, according to a new study led by UTHealth Houston.

4 May 2022

Interleukin-6 levels predict early withdrawal of COVID-19 patients from mechanical ventilation

Researchers reported that plasma IL-6 levels in patients with ARDS due to COVID-19 could predict early withdrawal from mechanical ventilation.

22 Apr 2022

A shortfall of ECMO treatment cost lives during the delta surge

Speaking from his hospital bed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, James Perkinson’s voice was raspy. In February, he’d just been taken off ECMO, the last-ditch life support treatment in which a machine outside the body does the work of the heart and lungs.

7 Apr 2022

Middle ear effusion common among tracheostomy-dependent kids requiring ventilatory support

Babies and toddlers who need a tracheostomy – a tube surgically inserted into their windpipe to help relieve breathing problems – are at a high risk of accumulating fluid behind their eardrum when on a ventilator.

4 Apr 2022

Experimental heart failure drug has little impact on exercise tolerance

Heart failure patients taking the investigational drug omecamtiv mecarbil, which has been previously shown to improve long-term outcomes, see little impact on their ability to exercise compared to a placebo, according to a study supported by the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

4 Apr 2022

Combination of Covid-19 and flu linked to greater risk of severe disease, death

Adults in hospital who have Covid-19 and the flu at the same time are at much greater risk of severe disease and death compared with patients who have Covid-19 alone or with other viruses, research shows.

27 Mar 2022

Hydrocortisone does not prevent bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants

Hydrocortisone is no more effective than placebo at preventing damage that can result from oxygen and ventilator therapy necessary to keep preterm infants alive, according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

23 Mar 2022

Antimicrobial resistance in COVID-19

Researchers discuss the impact of this extensive use of antibiotics on the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

16 Mar 2022

Prolonged unconsciousness is common in COVID-19 patients, recovery often takes days or even weeks

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients in intensive care units did not recover consciousness after their breathing tubes were removed and their sedation was stopped, leaving clinicians and families with difficult decisions about whether to continue life-sustaining therapy.

16 Mar 2022

Recovery of consciousness may take weeks for most COVID patients on respirators

Most patients with severe COVID who are put on ventilators regain consciousness after removal of respiratory support, but recovery may take weeks after the period of mechanical ventilation has ended, according to a new study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Harvard Medical School, NewYork-Presbyterian and Massachusetts General Hospital.

15 Mar 2022

Genomic surveillance of bacterial colonies could help physicians keep closer tabs on drug resistance

Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections are difficult to treat and cause more than a million annual deaths worldwide, especially in hospitalized patients with pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, or abdominal infections.

11 Mar 2022

More people should receive palliative care consultations after severe stroke

Only 20 percent of patients being treated in the hospital for severe stroke received a palliative care consultation, and only 43 percent of patients who died in the hospital met with a palliative care team, according to a new study from Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University.

9 Mar 2022

People with congenital heart defect hospitalized for COVID-19 are at highest risk of severe illness

People with a congenital heart defect who were hospitalized with COVID-19 infection were at higher risk for severe illness or death than those without a heart defect, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship, peer-reviewed journal Circulation.

7 Mar 2022

Study establishes that a low dose SARS-CoV-2 infection increases risk of pneumococcal coinfection

A new study published on the bioRxiv* preprint server has evaluated bacterial susceptibility during SARS-CoV-2 infection.

3 Mar 2022