Kathryn Kovalycsik, PharmD

Nasal povidone-iodine should be seen as an alternative to nasal mupirocin ointment to reduce risk of deep Staphylococcus aureus surgical site infections following arthroplasty and spine fusion surgery, according to a trial reported at IDWeek 2012.

A quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine has a similar safety and immunogenicity profile among children, adults, and seniors when compared with Fluzone, the currently licensed vaccine, according to the results of three clinical trials reported at IDWeek 2012.

Both formulations of a new adjuvant varicella-zoster virus vaccine were immunogenic and well tolerated when tested in adult autologous hematopoietic cell transplant recipients, according to a study presented during IDWeek 2012.

A pre-admission protocol using cutaneous chlorhexidine gluconate cloths significantly reduced the incidence of surgical site infections vs in-hospital peri-operative skin preparation only, according to a study presented IDWeek 2012.

The antiretroviral combination known as “the Quad” demonstrated comparable efficacy and favorable tolerability to Atripla in adherent treatment-naïve patients with HIV infection, according to a a study presented at IDWeek 2012.

A post-hoc analysis of data pooled from the largest multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, head-to-head clinical trials to date involving patients with Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea treated with oral vancomycin and oral metronidazole presented at IDWeek 2012 has shown statistically superior clinical success with oral vancomycin.

David A. Kaufman, MD, from the University of Virginia, presented study findings at IDWeek 2012 that showed targeted prophylaxis of fluconazole in infants <1,000g or ≤27 weeks using a 3mg/kg twice-weekly dose with a different antifungal used for treatment is effective in preventing invasive Candida infections.

Ceftolozane/tazobactam has greater in vitro activity than ceftazidime, cefepime, and piperacillin/tazobactam when tested against P. aeruginosa and Enterobacteriaceae strains that cause pneumonia in U.S. hospitals, as seen in a study presented at IDWeek 2012.

For children with Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis, the presence of venous thromboembolism is associated with a higher C-reactive protein at admission, longer hospital stay, and ICU admission, according to Kavita Patel, MD, from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, at IDWeek 2012.

As presented at IDWeek 2012, the importance of clinical response at Day 4 in relation to hospital length of stay was demonstrated in two randomized controlled Phase 3 trials of patients who received ceftaroline fosamil and ceftriaxone for community-acquired pneumonia.