Fidaxomicin use to treat proven Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) was compared between 20 patients receiving care in critical care units (CCUs) and 30 patients treated on general medical floors. At baseline, the CCU patients had more initial CDI episodes, more severe and complicated disease, and more concurrent broad-spectrum antibiotic coverage. On multivariate analysis, the response to fidaxomicin therapy among the critically ill patients was comparable to that among patients in the general medical wards.
Amidst the rising tide of antibiotic resistance, phage therapy holds promise as an alternative to antibiotics. Most well-designed studies on phage therapy exist in animal models. In order to progress to human clinical trials, it is important to understand what these models have accomplished and determine how to improve upon them. Here we provide a review of the animal models of phage therapy in Western literature and outline what can be learned from them in order to bring phage therapy closer to becoming a feasible alternative to antibiotics in clinical practice.
Bacteriophage therapy is the use of viruses to kill bacteria for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections. Little is known about the human immune response following phage therapy. We report the development of phage-specific CD4+ T cells alongside rising phage-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies in response to adjunctive bacteriophage therapy used to treat a multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia in a lung transplant recipient. Clinically, treatment was considered a success despite the development phage-specific immune responses.
Bacteriophage (phage) therapy is an alternative to traditional antibiotic treatments that is particularly important for multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
. Unfortunately, phage resistance commonly arises during treatment as bacteria evolve to survive phage predation.
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a life-threatening disease that affects mainly immunocompromised hosts. Galactomannan testing from serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) represents a cornerstone in diagnosing the disease.
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