Blood Infection News and Research

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Microbiologists discover how the spread of antibiotic resistance works in pneumococcus

Antibiotic resistance results from bacteria's uncanny ability to morph and adapt, outwitting pharmaceuticals that are supposed to kill them. But exactly how the bacteria acquire and spread that resistance inside individuals carrying them is not well-established for most bacterial organisms.

22 Nov 2012

Procalcitonin good marker of bacteremia in children with central lines

High procalcitonin levels are a good indicator of bacteremia in children with a central venous catheter who present to the emergency department with fever, suggest study findings.

30 Oct 2012

Giving antibiotics just before cesarean section prevents infections

Giving antibiotics before cesarean section surgery rather than just after the newborn's umbilical cord is clamped cuts the infection rate at the surgical site in half, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

3 Aug 2012

How an opportunistic fungal pathogen knows when to attack

The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans inconspicuously lives in our bodies until it senses that we are weak, when it quickly adapts to go on the offensive. The fungus, known for causing yeast and other minor infections, also causes a sometimes-fatal infection known as candidemia in immunocompromised patients. An in vivo study, published in mBio, demonstrates how C. albicans can distinguish between a healthy and an unhealthy host and alter its physiology to attack.

25 Jul 2012

Methodist receives $26.2M H&HS grant to reduce blood infections and delirium

Grants from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services totaling $26.2 million will support work by The Methodist Hospital in Houston to reduce blood infections and delirium-caused injuries in Texas hospitals.

16 Jun 2012

FDA approves Levaquin for plague

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Levaquin (levofloxacin) to treat patients with plague, a rare and potentially deadly bacterial infection. The agency also approved the drug to reduce the risk of getting plague after exposure to Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes the disease.

30 Apr 2012

State roundup: Calif. hospital allegedly overbilling Medicare; Wash. hospitals ER 'boom'; Rehab scams in Florida?

Health policy news from California, Florida, Washington state, Oregon, Vermont and Texas.

28 Nov 2011

GetWellNetwork doing well with hospitals

In other health IT news, a study found that Google-type word searches of hospital medical records are better at detecting patient safety issues than searches using numerical billing codes.

24 Aug 2011

Scientists identify potential target for reversing deadly blood infection sepsis

By digging a little deeper, researchers may have found a potential target for reversing the deadly blood infection sepsis.

13 Jun 2011

State roundup: Daniels signs Ind. law to ban Planned Parenthood funding

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican considering a run for president, signed legislation Tuesday to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding in his state, a move widely seen as a bid to woo influential social conservatives. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and the American Civil Liberties Union went to court to try to block the measure from taking effect.

12 May 2011

New research identifies major surgeries that face risk of developing postoperative sepsis

Sepsis, a life-threatening bacterial infection of the blood, is an unwanted and costly complication to patients and the health care system. New research at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has identified major elective surgeries in which sepsis occurs most often post-procedure, along with extenuating conditions such as age, gender and type of hospital that increase the risk for sepsis.

10 Mar 2011

New laboratory test for pregnant women to detect GBS infections

A more rapid laboratory test for pregnant women to detect Group B strep (GBS), the most common cause of life-threatening infections in newborns, is being studied by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

29 Nov 2010

AHRQ analysis finds hospital charges for patient stay averaged $18,000 per day

Hospital charges for the most expensive patient stays at U.S. hospitals in 2008 averaged about $18,000 per day, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These patients were most likely to be in the hospital for treatment of septicemia, or blood infection, hardening of the arteries, and heart attacks.

19 Oct 2010

Meet the actuary who unwound Anthem's big rate increase request

The Los Angeles Times delivers the inside story of David Axene, a California actuary who, working from home and a hospital bed, unwound the mistaken math behind Anthem Blue Cross's request to raise rates by up to 39 percent earlier this year. "Axene Health Partners is off the beaten path, but it was well known to senior managers from the California Department of Insurance as a top-flight actuarial firm with a reputation for deft work.

17 Jul 2010

High incidence of MDS among seniors, elderly at increased risk of premature death: Study

Myelodysplastic syndromes - a group of serious blood cancers - are nearly five times more common in seniors than previously thought, according to a new study by researchers from the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center.

27 Apr 2010

AHRQ: Women accounted for nearly 60% of 39.4M admissions to U.S. hospitals in 2007

Women accounted for nearly 60 percent of the 39.4 million admissions to U.S. hospitals in 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

7 Apr 2010

Pregnant breast cancer patients can receive chemotherapy without endangering baby health

Women who discover they have breast cancer while they are pregnant can be treated with chemotherapy without endangering the health of their unborn baby, according to research to be presented at the seventh European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC7) in Barcelona today (Friday).

26 Mar 2010

Hospital costs for treating septicemia increased from $4.1 billion in 1997 to $12.3 billion in 2007

The hospital costs for treating septicemia increased by an average of nearly 12 percent each year from 1997 to 2007, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Treating this potentially deadly blood infection increased from $4.1 billion in 1997 to $12.3 billion in 2007.

20 Mar 2010

A new way to control blood pressure

The control of blood pressure is central to people's wellbeing. One in three Australians suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), a condition which can lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke and kidney failure.

11 Mar 2010

Inadvertent exposure of hospital housekeepers to drug-resistant "Superbugs" may lead to hospital-infection epidemic

One cause of the rampant international hospital-infection epidemic may be the "inadvertent exposure" of hospital housekeepers and transporters to antibiotic-resistant "Superbugs" such as MRSA, says TeleTracking Technologies CEO Anthony Sanzo.

10 Mar 2010