Mayo Clinic in Florida recognized as Center of Excellence for Antimicrobial Stewardship

Mayo Clinic in Florida has been recognized as an Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) ― the only hospital in North Florida to hold that designation. This designation recognizes Mayo Clinic’s optimal antimicrobial use and ongoing efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance.

Alzheimer’s microbe hypothesis gets major NIH funding

After years of paltry funding, research on the possible role of microbes in the causation of Alzheimer’s disease will now get a major infusion of grants from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging

FY 2020 Spending Bill Funds Critical Initiatives While Neglecting Urgent Priorities

The spending bill passed today is a welcome step forward. Allocations in the bill will strengthen public health and research efforts during the year ahead and will provide critical support for important goals. At the same time, the legislation in its final form also brings inadequate responses to current and urgent challenges with the potential for long-term and costly consequences.

House Drug Pricing Bill Serves Patients, Public Health

H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act passed by the House of Representatives today introduces critically needed and significant steps to reduce costs and improve access to life-saving therapies for conditions including HIV and hepatitis C. Importantly, the legislation also brings essential resources to combat antibiotic resistance, find and develop new infection fighting drugs and bring them to market. The balanced approach of this legislation will serve patients and public health.

Flu Preparedness Hearing Opens Opportunities for Vaccine, AMR Action

Today’s subcommittee hearing on U.S. preparedness and responses for the 2019-2020 flu season offers an important opportunity to examine and act on gaps and challenges exacerbating the public health threats of seasonal influenza outbreaks.

For Patients with Sepsis, an Infectious Disease Expert May Reduce the Risk of Death

When people with severe sepsis, an extreme overreaction by the body to a serious infection, come to the emergency room (ER), they require timely, expert care to prevent organ failure and even death. When that care includes the early involvement of an infectious disease (ID) specialist, patient mortality can be reduced by as much as 40 percent, according to a new retrospective, single-center study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Journal Articles Explore Fatal Consequences of Immigrant Detention Policies, Conditions

An analysis and related commentary published in Clinical Infectious Diseases today provide in-depth examination of the deplorable and dangerous conditions in U.S. immigrant detention centers where seven children have died in the last 10 months. Together, the articles underscore an urgent imperative repeatedly cited by ours, and other societies of medical professionals, to investigate and remedy violations of human rights and the most basic standards of public health, infection control and medical practice that have been demonstrated in these facilities.

New STD Data Represent Urgent Call for Action

The continued steep increase in incidence of sexually transmitted diseases reported in the 2018 data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday, is a cause for deep concern about dangerous gaps in our public health infrastructure.

UN Climate Action Summit Opens Opportunities for Action on Infectious Disease Impact

As government, business, and community leaders from around the world gather in New York today for the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, attention to the immediate and international threats posed by climate change to human health will be critical to achieving the summit’s goals of advancing from words to urgent action.

Public Comment Period for IDSA/AAN/ACR Draft Lyme Disease Guidelines Extended through Sept. 9

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) have extended the public comment period for the draft of their joint guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease for an additional 30 days. The deadline to submit comments is now Sept. 9, 2019.