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CDC: KP.3, KP.3.1.1 behind over 50% of US COVID-19 cases

Several early indicators of COVID-19 activity, including test positivity rates, emergency department visits and hospitalizations, continue to increase in many parts of the US, while wastewater detections are rising in all regions, particularly in the South and West, according to the CDC. The variant KP.3 and its relative KP.3.1.1 account for over 50% of nationwide sequenced samples. Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (7/19) Learn More

Report shows continued threat posed by AMR infections

A concerning trend is highlighted in the CDC's latest report, "Antimicrobial Resistance Threats in the United States, 2021-2022," on the rise of antimicrobial resistance pathogens, specifically cases of Candida auris that have "increased nearly five-fold," the report states. "The pipeline for antibiotics today is already inadequate to address the threats that we know about, without even considering the continuous evolution of these bugs as the years go on," said BIO's Senior Director of Infectious Disease Policy Emily Wheeler, in an interview, but passage of the PASTEUR Act could help advance the development of new antimicrobial drugs. Bio News (7/18) Learn More

Hospital nutrition team partners to reduce foodborne illness

Infection prevention and nutrition teams at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston worked together to identify and mitigate foodborne illnesses at the facility. The findings, presented at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology annual meeting, identified numerous areas not in compliance with state and federal infection prevention recommendations including expired food items and mislabeling, which prompted more frequent inspections and audits, resulting in 20% improvement in compliance over 18 months. Healio (free registration) (7/16) Learn More

Health systems should be alert to malicious IT activity

Hackers targeting the health care sector may try to take advantage of continuing disruption caused by last week's global IT outage, so health organizations should remain vigilant for potential threats, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned. Some hospitals and health systems are still working to resolve scheduling delays and care interruption caused by the outage, which affected some Windows-based devices. Healthcare Innovation (7/22) Learn More

Report: 300 drugs are in short supply in the US

There were 300 active drug shortages in the US in the second quarter this year, down from a record 323 shortages in the previous quarter, according to a report from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Certain chemotherapy, sedation and pain drugs, Rho(D) immune globulin, and central nervous system agents such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medications are still in short supply. Axios (7/22) Learn More

New technology allows super-detailed images of the heart

Hierarchical phase-contrast tomography is a new X-ray technique that can capture more intricate images of the heart than ever before, researchers reported in the journal Radiology. "It allows us to view the whole organ at global scale, then zoom in to street level to look at cardiovascular features in unprecedented detail," said study author Peter Lee. Cardiovascular Business (7/17) Learn More

AI plus CT IDs candidates for preventive cardiology care

AI used with CT imaging to analyze coronary artery calcification may help identify patients who could benefit from preventive cardiology services, according to research presented at the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography's annual meeting. The research included 631 patients with data from 2023 and 2024. AuntMinnie (free registration) (7/20) Learn More

Cardiovascular Quality and Research News

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