Face Masks May Risk Bacterial Spread to Eyes During Intravitreal Injections
SAN ANTONIO — Face masks became seeded “almost instantaneously” with oral and nasopharyngeal bacteria, posing a potential risk of spread to the eyes during intravitreal injections for macular degeneration, according to a study reported here. Masks for all 73 patients involved in the study tested positive for a variety of common organisms, as well as […]
Antibiotic Could Thwart Costly Sarcoma Surgery Complication
BALTIMORE — Including an antibiotic with strong activity against anaerobic bacteria to standard perioperative prophylaxis following soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) resection was associated with lower wound complication rates, a retrospective study suggested. Overall, major wound complication rates dropped from 27.3% to 15.9% when an antibiotic such as metronidazole was incorporated into perioperative prophylaxis, a 42% relative […]
Study: Drug Use a Factor in COVID Breakthrough Infections
Fully vaccinated individuals with substance use disorders were more likely to have breakthrough COVID-19 infections than those without such disorders, researchers found. Adjusted analyses found that breakthrough infections were higher in patients with all types of substance use disorder, except tobacco, and were the highest among cocaine users (HR 2.06, 95% CI 1.30-3.25) and cannabis […]
Delta on the Decline? Not So Fast
It’s a familiar refrain, those prominent voices claiming we’re all but done with the pandemic of the century. Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, told the New York Times this week he thought the U.S. was riding out “the last major wave of infection.” Writer David Leonhardt concluded in the same newsletter, “the worst of […]
Risk of Premature Death Seen in Testicular Cancer Survivors
Treating testicular cancer (TC) with platinum-based chemotherapy (PBCT) and radiotherapy (RT) was associated with an increased risk of long-term non-TC mortality, a Norwegian population-based cohort study found. Over a median follow-up of 18.7 years, overall excess non-TC mortality was 23% in men diagnosed with TC compared with the general population (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] 1.23, […]
Black Women with HIV Face Higher Early Death Risk
Black women with HIV had the highest risk of premature death, according to a 21-year study. In a retrospective analysis of over 6,500 patients with HIV, black women with HIV had an age-adjusted years of potential life lost (aYPLL) per 1,000 person-years of 592.5 (95% CI 588.4-596.6) versus white men with HIV with an aYPLL […]
COVID Risk in T1D; Lilly to Drop Some Insulin Prices; New ADA/EASD T1D Guideline
Adults over age 40 with type 1 diabetes (T1D) faced more severe COVID-19 outcomes, including a higher risk of hospitalization and death, compared with children and young adults with the condition. “These findings indicate the need for age-tailored treatments, immunization, and clinical management of individuals affected by type 1 diabetes and COVID-19,” said the study’s […]
Doc Groups Unhappy With HHS Rule on No Surprises Act
Some medical groups are none too happy with the “surprise billing” interim final rule issued yesterday by the Biden administration. The rule — issued jointly by the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury — implements part of the No Surprises Act, passed by Congress in December 2020 as part of a larger […]
Remdesivir Appears Effective in COVID Outpatients, Too
Remdesivir (Veklury) reduced risk of hospitalizations by 87% compared with placebo in outpatients at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19, a researcher said. While the raw numbers were small — two in the remdesivir arm versus 15 in the placebo arm — the remdesivir arm had a significantly lower risk of hospitalization (0.7% vs […]
COVID-19 hospitalizations increase among unvaccinated pregnant women: Cases at major public hospital show role of Delta variant in severe illnesses
Unvaccinated pregnant women are increasingly being hospitalized with COVID-19 during a nationwide surge of the Delta variant, according to research from UT Southwestern Medical Center. The study — which covers more than 1,500 cases in the Dallas area since May 2020 — offers a snapshot of what doctors believe is happening in communities across the […]