Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Azithromycin Does Not Improve Severe Wheezing in Young Kids

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found azithromycin did not lead to a greater reduction in symptom severity among young children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with moderate-to-severe wheezing. The study included 840 children aged 18–59 months—62% of which tested positive for potentially pathogenic airway bacteria, and 86.1% had detectable respiratory viruses. Rhinovirus was the most common (72.5%). In the study, conducted at 8 U.S. pediatric EDs, children received …

Tick Bites Surge—And UC Can Be The Preferred Treatment Setting

Weekly emergency department (ED) visits for tick bites have reached their highest April levels since 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—reaching 104 per 100,000 ED visits. Last year, just 14 states accounted for ~90% of U.S. Lyme disease cases, according to Harvard Health, and the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest are the regions of highest risk. Even so, the reported data doesn’t capture urgent care’s role in treating tick bites …

Conservative Antibiotic Duration May Work Well For Kids’ Uncomplicated UTIs

Shorter courses of antibiotics may be a reasonable option for kids with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to a meta-analysis of 13 randomized trials involving 2,010 children published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. Researchers found that shorter antibiotic courses of 2–5 days prescribed for acute, uncomplicated pediatric UTIs produced outcomes comparable to longer courses of 7 days or more. Relapse rates were similar between groups (risk ratio [RR] 1.08), with only 8 more relapses …

CGRP Drugs Help Most For Migraine

A systematic review of 43 randomized trials involving more than 14,000 patients found that evidence shows several newer calcitonin gene–related peptide (CGRP)-targeted drugs can reduce chronic migraine frequency by about 2 headache days per month compared with placebo. In the review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers also found the CGRPs may achieve at least a 50% reduction in migraine frequency, although those findings were sourced from a limited number of studies. Botulinum …

DoxyPEP Loses Effectiveness For Gonorrhea Over Time

Patients using the doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) treatment protocol typically take a dose of the antibiotic within 72 hours of unprotected sex. DoxyPEP has shown some encouraging real-world effectiveness with significant declines in incidence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, a new study of 26,582 men who have sex with men and transgender women in California from January 1, 2023, to June 30, 2025, published in The Lancet Infectious Disease, found that doxyPEP remained …

Cases of Ingested Water Beads Rise 6,000%; X-rays May Not Help Clinicians Diagnose

Toy blasters that shoot water beads are popular among kids as well as some adults, and most blasters cost less than $50 with a supply of thousands of water beads. The concern is that the colorful beads look like candy and may be attractive to young children. More than 20,000 water bead ingestions in children younger than 6 years were reported to U.S. poison centers between 2019 and 2024, as published in Academic Pediatrics. The …

Ondansetron May Not Be Necessary For All Kids After ED Visit For Vomiting

An analysis of persistent vomiting among children in emergency department (ED) presentations found that children under 2 years of age and those with 10 or more episodes of vomiting at presentation were more likely to benefit from ondansetron after discharge than other children. As published in JAMA Network Open, researchers analyzed 977 children with acute gastroenteritis–associated vomiting between September 14, 2019, and June 27, 2024, and found that overall, 8.6% of children had 3 or …

Triple Inhaler Approved For Maintenance Treatment Of Asthma

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a fixed-dose triple inhaler containing budesonide/glycopyrrolate/formoterol fumarate for maintenance treatment of asthma in patients aged 12 years and older, according to the manufacturer in a press release. The single-inhaler regimen combines a corticosteroid and a long-acting beta2-agonist with a long-acting muscarinic antagonist. The inhaler is intended for asthma patients not adequately controlled on dual therapy. Approval was based on phase III trials, which showed statistically significant improvements in …

Large Tuberculosis Outbreaks Affect More Patients Born In The US

During 2017–2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified a total of 50 large tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks in 23 states, according to a new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC defines a large outbreak as 10 or more related cases within a 3-year period and notes that the large outbreaks accounted for 1,092 of the 61,993 cases reported during the study period. Cases attributed to large outbreaks were somewhat different from TB cases …

Pediatric Telemedicine Providers Judicious In Prescribing Antibiotics For ARTI

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are common diagnoses among pediatric patients, and a recent study of 449,630 pediatric ARTI visits found antibiotics were prescribed less often during telemedicine visits than in-person visits, as published in JAMA Network Open. Antibiotic prescriptions were written during 46.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 45.1%-48.4%) of primary care in-person visits vs 34.6% (95% CI, 27.0%-42.3%) of primary care telemedicine visits with a difference of −12.1 (95% CI, −19.3 to −5.0) percentage …

« Previous

Login to JUCM