The Top 5 Most Read Infectious Disease Articles on AJMC.com this year explore recent discoveries about medical conditions such as: clostridioides difficile infectious diseases (CDI), candida auris, and the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
Here are the five most-read infectious disease articles of 2023.
5. Study finds C-section is more common if you have CDI
Pregnant people have traditionally been considered to be at low risk of infection. CDI, summarized in this article published in May research result Pregnant patients with CDI have been shown to have a significantly higher risk of delivering by caesarean section. Researchers compared women with CDI to a control group to better understand the impact of the infection. They found that 26.5% of pregnancies in the CDI group were delivered by caesarean section, compared to 10.2% in the control group.
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4. Despite new guidelines, health systems are unlikely to stop wearing masks.
Although the CDC has changed its guidance on COVID-19 control and prevention, this article, published in April, research result It indicated that most health systems plan to continue masking. The study surveyed 34 respondents representing health systems across the United States about the new guidelines. Of the respondents, 33 companies (97.1%) chose to use masks primarily to prevent seasonal respiratory viruses other than COVID-19 (90.9%) and because wearing masks impacts employee staffing ( (72.7%) said their facility has no plans to discontinue universal mask-wearing for these reasons. .
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3. C difficileElderly women are at greatest risk of co-infection with the new coronavirus
This article was first published contagion live in September summarized the results of a retrospective analysis using the National Inpatient Sample Database to examine outcomes for patients co-infected with COVID-19 and CDI. Of the 1,045,125 people confirmed to have been hospitalized due to COVID-19, 4,920 were co-infected with CDI. Older white female patients were more likely to be co-infected, and patients with co-infections had nearly twice the length of hospital stay. Co-infected patients also had higher total hospital costs and higher inpatient mortality (21.6% vs. 11%; P < .001).
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2. Dangerous drug-resistant yeast infections are on the rise across the United States, CDC says
CDC is report how in march candida aurisThis article summarizes how highly contagious fungal infections with high mortality rates are increasing nationwide and are becoming more resistant to treatment. This report reviewed clinical cases in which individuals became ill, colonization screening, and data from the CDC’s Antimicrobial Resistance Testing Network. Multiple measures were found to have resulted in a significant increase in cases of dangerous yeast infections from 2019 to 2021. The growth rate of clinical cases has increased year by year, increasing by 44% in 2019 and 95% in 2021.
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1. Study finds vitamin D deficiency is associated with CDI recurrence
In this article published in August, study This study suggests that patients with vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and infected with CDI are at increased risk of recurrence. Researchers cited several reasons for the association between VDD and high recurrence rates. These include that vitamin D promotes the structural integrity of the intestinal lining and helps protect the gut microbiome. Therefore, people who are deficient in vitamin D are more likely to relapse. To reduce the risk of reinfection in VDD patients, they suggested using vitamin D supplements during initial CDI cases.
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