Top New ID/Stewardship Journal Articles: November 2019

In this article top new infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship journal articles are identified. Here are our picks to share with you for November 2019.

Written By: Bassam Ghanem, Pharm.D., MS, BCPS

Edited By: Timothy P. Gauthier, Pharm.D., BCPS-AQ ID

Last updated: 3 November 2019

In this monthly column two pharmacists with advanced training in infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship identify top new journal articles published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Many of these are identified, shared, and discussed via Twitter. The authors can be found on Twitter @ABsteward (B.G.) & @IDstewardship (T.G.).

It is very hard to keep up with all of the new publications that come out each month. We hope this can assist people in identifying new articles of interest. We additionally hope it can serve as a place to come back to if you find something of interest and need a link to it.

1. Oral vs Intravenous Antibiotics for Patients With Klebsiella pneumoniae Liver Abscess: A Randomized, Controlled Noninferiority Study | CID

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/cid/ciz881/5588353?redirectedFrom=fulltext

A-KLASS RCT concluded that early (< one week) step-down to oral antibiotics were non-inferior to intravenous antibiotics for the early treatment of Klebsiella pneumoniae liver abscess.

2. Antibiotic treatment for 6 days versus 12 days in patients with severe cellulitis: a multicentre randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, non-inferiority trial | CMI

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1198743X1930504X

DANCE RCT concluded that antibiotic treatment for 12 days compared to 6 days in patients with severe cellulitis resulted in significantly more frequent relapses by day 90.

3. Efficacy of antibiotic treatment in patients with chronic low back pain and Modic changes (the AIM study): double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, multicentre trial | BMJ

https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l5654

AIM RCT concluded that three months of treatment with amoxicillin compared with placebo did not provide a clinically important benefit in patients with chronic low back pain and modic changes at the level of a previous disc herniation.

4. Penicillin V four times daily for five days versus three times daily for 10 days in patients with pharyngotonsillitis caused by group A streptococci: randomised controlled, open label, non-inferiority study | BMJ

https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l5337

This RCT concluded that Penicillin V four times daily for five days was non-inferior in clinical outcome to penicillin V three times daily for 10 days in patients with pharyngotonsillitis caused by group A streptococci.

5. Streptococcus pyogenes pbp2x Mutation Confers Reduced Susceptibility to Beta-lactam Antibiotics | CID

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciz1000/5601183

The Study described the first reported GAS clinical isolates with elevated ampicillin, amoxicillin, and cefotaxime minimum inhibitory concentrations conferred by a pbp2x mutation, which could serve as a first step in development of resistance.