Top New Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship Journal Articles: December 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: 5 December 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. Safety and efficacy of fidaxomicin and vancomycin in children and adolescents with Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile infection: a phase 3, multicenter, randomized, single-blind clinical trial (SUNSHINE) | CID

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciz1149/5644102

SUNSHINE RCT concluded that Fidaxomicin was well tolerated and demonstrated significantly higher rates of global cure compared with vancomycin, in children and adolescents with C. difficile infection.

2. Colistin versus meropenem in the empirical treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (Magic Bullet study): an investigator-driven, open-label, randomized, noninferiority controlled trial | CC

https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-019-2627-y

Magic Bullet RCT did not demonstrate the noninferiority of colistin compared with meropenem, both combined with levofloxacin, in terms of efficacy in the empirical treatment of late VAP but demonstrated the greater nephrotoxicity of colistin.

3. Vancomycin area under the curve to minimum inhibitory concentration ratio predicting clinical outcome: a systematic review and meta-analysis with pooled sensitivity and specificity | CMI

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1198743X19305841

This systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that vancomycin AUC:MIC performance was modest and inconsistent. Additionally it found the majority of studies included failed to demonstrate a relationship between AUC:MIC and positive clinical outcome.

4. Beta-lactam antibiotic versus combined Beta-lactam antibiotic and single-daily dosing regimens of aminoglycosides for the treatment of serious infections: a meta-analysis | IJAA

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857919303000

This systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that existing evidence suggests no added survival benefit from a single daily dosing regimen of an aminoglycoside when combined with beta-lactam antibiotics.

5. Adjunctive Rifampin Therapy For Diabetic Foot Osteomyelitis in the Veterans Health Administration | JAMA Netw Open

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.16003

This cohort study found that patients received rifampin for diabetic foot osteomyelitis experienced lower rates of death and amputation than patients not treated with rifampin, which remained significant after adjustment for confounders.