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Selected news items and updates for the practicing clinician

Zachary Mulkey^a

Correspondence to Zachary Mulkey MD
Email: zachary.mulkey @ttuhsc.edu

SWRCCC : 2014;2.(5):55
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• The New England Journal of Medicine has issued a correction to its publication of the REDUCE MRSA trial results which demonstrated fewer bloodstream infections after initiation of decolonization with chlorhexidine baths and nasal mupirocin. The study originally reported a NNT of 54 which was revised to 99 in the correction.


• Vancomycin plus piperacillin-tazobactam has been associated with acute kidney injury again in a small study reported in abstract form recently during the ASPH 2013 meeting. This is consistent with other reports from 2012.


• Also a surprising finding from the same meeting in abstract form…at one 240-bed hospital in only 15% of patients treated with vancomycin or TMP/SMX for C. diff infection actually had lab confirmed disease. These results represent only a single institutions finding and full results should be published before any other conclusions are made.


• The ACP has published guidelines for the treatment of anemia in patients with heart disease. In general, a more restrictive approach is favored in both medical and surgical patients. Recommendations come from relatively low quality scientific evidence.


• Up to 10% of high school students have tried e-cigarettes according to a CDC report. They are already regulated somewhat like conventional cigarettes in Europe and there are expectations for the FDA to do the same in the US.