Practice Management
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new health alert, calling attention to unusually high testing positivity rates for the highly transmissible parvovirus B19 as well as clusters of complications among individuals at high risk, such as those with sickle cell disease and pregnant women. Fetal infection can lead to myocarditis and aplastic crisis, and some cases of fetal anemia have required blood transfusions, according to NBC News. Also referred to as …
Read More
New York’s department of health issued an advisory last week cautioning healthcare organizations to stop prescribing the antibiotic ciprofloxacin as prophylactic treatment for people who have come in contact with someone who has meningococcal disease. The department created the recommendation based on an increase in antimicrobial resistance with ciprofloxacin. In New York City, 6 of the 35 (17%) isolates from patients diagnosed with invasive meningococcal disease from July 23, 2023, to July 22, 2024, were …
Read More
New research in Nature suggests that an autoimmune over-reaction could be what’s driving a pattern of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) after COVID-19 illness. Researchers looked at 199 blood samples from children with MIS-C and 45 control samples from children with COVID-19 but without MIS-C. About one-third of the MIS-C patients had autoantibodies for part of the human protein SNX8, which is found in the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, and gastrointestinal tract. …
Read More
According to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, pneumonia diagnoses made in emergency departments (EDs) and hospitals show particular swings in diagnostic uncertainty. Researchers found that in 57% of patients hospitalized for pneumonia in 118 Veterans Affairs hospitals, the diagnosis of pneumonia changed one way or the other between initial presentation and discharge. Of the patients who were initially diagnosed with pneumonia, 36% did not have a pneumonia diagnosis when discharged. Clinical notes, …
Read More
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated vaccine guidance after its advisory committee recommended that all adults aged 75 years and older and adults aged 60–74 years who are at increased risk should receive a single dose of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine. The update reflects CDC’s intent to maximize RSV vaccination coverage among those most likely to benefit and to reduce implementation barriers associated with a previous recommendation that called …
Read More
In a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, data showed that antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory tract infections (RTIs) were significantly more common in virtual urgent care (UC) settings vs in-person UC settings. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that 58% of RTI virtual visits resulted in an antibiotic prescription, while only 43% of in-person visits did. Data included 19,003 visits to virtual UC and 69,189 visits to in-person UC from 2018 through 2022. COVID-19 …
Read More
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week approved a blood test for colorectal cancer screening in average-risk adults aged 45 and older. Known as Shield, it is the first blood test to receive FDA approval as a primary screening method for colorectal cancer and to qualify for Medicare reimbursement, according to a press release. While the price has not been announced, the test is expected to reach the market within a week. Shield will …
Read More
A study in JAMA Network Open examined the presence of cannabis in suicide cases, as reported to US poison centers from 2009 through 2021. Researchers found intentional, suspected suicidal cannabis exposures increased by approximately 17% annually. According to national data, 18,689 exposures were reported in the time frame, and nearly all (96.5%) cases involved exposure to more than 1 substance in addition to cannabis. Overall, 9.6% of exposures resulted in death or major adverse outcomes, …
Read More
Earlier this year, drugmaker GSK stopped making the asthma inhaler Flovent (fluticasone)—which was available as a metered-dose inhaler (Flovent HFA) and a dry powder inhaler (Flovent Diskus). Instead, the company opted to produce its own authorized generic version of fluticasone. However, with the manufacturing change, patients are experiencing insurance barriers and delays in getting their prescriptions filled, according to NPR. It’s especially concerning for children under age 5 who may not have many asthma inhaler …
Read More
A nationwide population-based study on prescribing trends published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found a significant increase in new users of GLP-1 receptor agonists who don’t have a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. The proportion of new GLP-1 users with type 2 diabetes decreased from nearly 90% to about 70% from 2019 to 2023, according to a separate analysis of the findings in MedPage Today. Meanwhile, new users tend to be those prescribed the …
Read More