New data published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) show routine vaccine uptake among kindergarteners across the United States during the 2019-20 school year was high, approximately 95%—but the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to bring that number down.
Telephone consultations could be the reason why antibiotic prescribing at general practices in the United Kingdom was higher than expected during the first COVID-19 lockdown, researchers with the University of Nottingham reported yesterday in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Nine million childhood vaccines are projected to be missed by the end of this year in the United States—a 26% decrease compared with 2019—according to a Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) report. This decline would cause a gap between vaccination rate and that required for herd immunity of 4.8 percentage points for measles and 12.7 percentage points for pertussis (whooping cough).
Daily infectious disease (ID) consultation in an Italian hospital was associated with reduced antibiotic consumption compared with weekly ID consultation, Italian researchers reported late last week in BMC Infectious Diseases.
Telemedicine visits for urinary tract infections (UTIs) were associated with more appropriate antibiotic prescribing and decreased use of diagnostic and follow-up resources than virtual visits, according to the results of a primary care network study published yesterday in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Vaccination rates are steady, though disparities remain for the uninsured.
Initial results from the FMT (fecal microbiota transplantation) National Registry indicate that FMT is highly effective for treating Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), with a good safety profile, US researchers reported yesterday in Gastroenterology.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new recommendations for the prevention and control of Staphylococcus aureus in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 62 studies has found that immunity conferred by the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine fades each subsequent year, suggesting that vaccination strategies should be revisited.
University of California researchers studying the breast milk of 18 women with COVID-19 found coronavirus RNA—but not live virus—in 1 of 64 samples, suggesting that babies aren't likely to be infected through that route.