ANTIBIOTICS

Antibiotic-related training was reported as being available for staff in only 6.8% of long-term care facilities

Without investment from countries in all income brackets, future generations will face the disastrous impact of uncontrolled antimicrobial resistance, report warns

While results are based on a single hospital, it seems likely the issue of overdiagnosis of UTI syndromes in the ED is common to other UK hospitals

The majority of the world's annual 5.7 million antibiotic-treatable deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries

According to recent recommendations from the IDSA/SHEA, either vancomycin or fidaxomicin is recommended over metronidazole for initial C. difficile infection.

Though not often considered as a big threat compared to Gram-negative bacteria, there are different challenges posed by Gram-positive bacteria, E. faecalis and E. faecium, Dr Jose Munita explained at the ECCMID 2019.

There is a substantial negative impact of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria on empirical antibiotic therapy for cancer patients—in many cases resulting in mortality. Dr Carlota Gudiol believes that considering patients’ individual risks for antibacterial resistance, and the local epidemiology of treatment centres can help guide clinical decision-making.

According to Dr Karol Lis, faecal microbiota transplantation is a safe and effective treatment for patients with blood disorders colonised by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including before and after allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation.

According to Professor Victor Nizet, the future of antibiotic treatment may not target the microbes per se, but rather the host–pathogen interface.

According to Dr. Trevor Lawley’s keynote presentation, bacterial infection treatment may be undergoing a paradigm shift: moving away from classical antibiotic strategies towards live commensal bacteria therapies. The influence of large-scale genomic and functional microbiome analyses was also discussed.

A non-antibiotic drug–bacteria screen identified novel interactions, suggesting that some human-targeted drugs significantly impact the gut microbiome, potentially causing side effects and antibiotic resistance. This screen is a resource of representative gut bacteria strains and growth media for further in vitro studies.

In patients colonized with multidrug-resistant Gram-negative extended-spectrum beta lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae, there is a higher risk of surgical site infections.

According to Professor. Evelina Tacconelli, there is enough evidence-based data available to reduce the negative effects on individual microbiomes from antibiotic treatments. However, this requires a strict adherence to the principles of antibiotic stewardship: choosing the right compound, dose, route of administration, and duration of treatment.

By activating the bacterial SOS response, chemotherapy treatments promote antibiotic resistance and bacterial translocation.