Clinicians are frequently faced with patients in whom the radiographic resolution of community-acquired pneumonia seems delayed. Previous studies of radiographic resolution of the disease have yielded conflicting results. We prospectively assessed the radiographic resolution of pneumonia in 81 non-immuno-compromised patients, presenting to the emergency room and ambulatory clinics of a large university hospital, who met clinical and radiographic criteria for pneumonia. Serial chest radiographs were obtained every 2 wk for an initial period of 8 wk, and then every 4 wk until 24 wk had passed, or until all radiographic abnormalities had cleared. Forty-one of the 81 patients (50.6%) demonstrated complete clearance after 2 wk. Fifty of the 75 patients (66.7%) followed to 4 wk demonstrated complete clearance. The rate of clearance was inversely correlated with age (p < 0.001) and involvement of single versus multiple lobes (p < 0.0001) (log-rank test). Clearance was faster in those patients treated as outpatients (3.8 wk versus 9.1 wk, p = 0.03) and in patients who were nonsmokers (4.5 wk versus 8.4 wk, p = 0.05) (log-rank test). Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that only age (relative risk for clearance, +0.79 per decade) and single versus multiple lobes involved (relative risk for clearance, 0.55 for more than one lobe) had independent predictive value (Cox proportional hazards regression model). The radiographic resolution of pneumonia occurs more rapidly in younger patients and in those with only a single lobe involved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Among injection drug users who do not share syringes, an important proportion of HCV infections may be attributed to cooker/cotton sharing.

This study found significant gaps in adherence to CDC recommendations for the control of respiratory infections in ambulatory care clinical settings. Practical strategies are needed to identify and reduce barriers to implementation of recommended practices for control of respiratory infections.

Until recently, measles exposures were relatively rare and so, consequently, were an afterthought for cancer patients and/or blood and marrow transplant recipients and their providers. Declines in measles herd immunity have reached critical levels in many communities throughout the United States due to increasing vaccine hesitancy, so that community-based outbreaks have occurred. The reemergence of measles as a clinical disease has raised serious concerns among immunocompromised patients and those who work within the cancer and hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) community. Since live attenuated vaccines, such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), are contraindicated in immunocompromised patients, and with no approved antiviral therapies for measles, community exposures in these patients can lead to life-threatening infection. The lack of data regarding measles prevention in this population poses a number of clinical dilemmas. Herein specialists in Infectious Diseases and HCT/cellular therapy endorsed by the American Society of Transplant and Cellular Therapy address frequently asked questions about measles in these high-risk cancer patients and HCT recipients and provide expert opinions based on the limited available data.