Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Updated Antibiotic Stewardship Framework Calls For Scalability

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released updated guidance on the recommended features of antibiotic stewardship programs in outpatient settings. The agency says the updates reflect changes in today’s healthcare system environment, particularly with consideration for the increasing number of outpatient practices that are now under larger health system ownership. According to CDC, the new Core Elements of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship Programs builds on its original 2016 framework to reflect the latest …

Pediatric Cases of Valley Fever Rising In California

In a 25-year retrospective study of pediatric coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) at the University of California Los Angeles, researchers found a rise in the number of cases and in the severity of cases, with numbers surging in the past 3 years. Patients were classified to have either: primary coccidioidomycosis, which were patients that were asymptomatic or had localized pulmonary infection; or disseminated coccidioidomycosis, which were patients with a site of extra-pulmonary disease. Among the 81 patient …

Severe Obesity Rises By 2% Despite Overall Downward Trend

The prevalence of severe obesity among Americans, particularly among women, has risen over the past decade, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to a 2021-2023 survey involving 6,000 individuals, about 40% of U.S. adults are obese. Of those surveyed, nearly 10% had severe obesity, defined by a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more. The rate of severe obesity increased from approximately 8% in the 2013-2014 survey to …

Free Home COVID Tests Launch in September Just as New Vaccine Arrives

This September, U.S. households will again be able to order up to 4 COVID-19 nasal-swab tests from COVIDtests.gov for free. Local health departments will also receive extra funding to offer free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured and underinsured adults. Additionally, government-purchased supplies of the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir/ritonavir will be available at no cost to those who are uninsured or on Medicare or Medicaid. The government is also encouraging people to get the newly updated and recently …

All Adults Over 75 Should Get RSV Vaccine: CDC

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 …

CDC In Colorado to Manage Bird Flu Outbreak

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent a 9-member team of epidemiologists, veterinarians, and clinicians, plus an industrial hygienist, to Colorado to assist with managing a bird flu outbreak affecting both humans and poultry, according to the agency. Colorado reported 4 confirmed human cases of the infection and a possible 5th case earlier this week. As part of the ongoing evaluation, additional samples are being tested with the anticipation of additional cases …

CDC Ramps up H5N1 Surveillance

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked state health officials to keep up with flu surveillance over the summer to watch for human-to-human spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus, according to CIDRAP. Flu surveillance generally wanes during the warmer months when there are fewer seasonal flu virus cases. H5N1 vaccines exist, but the nation is far from ready for a full-scale national vaccine program should the virus become a widespread health …

CDC Offers Detailed Recommendations on Syphilis Lab Testing

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released what the agency says are the first comprehensive recommendations on laboratory testing for syphilis. The extensive guidance covers laboratory-based tests, point-of-care tests (POC), processing of samples, and reporting of test results. In general, for symptomatic patients, nontreponemal tests are recommended for laboratory screening. Treponemal tests are used to validate nontreponemal results and to diagnose early syphilis infections not detectable by nontreponemal tests. Additionally, CDC notes that treponemal …

CDC Wants More Opioid Guidelines—but Will They Help?

Robert Redfield, MD took the reins at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the midst of a national explosion in opioid addiction and death. As such, he vowed that tackling the problem would be a top priority for the CDC. Right now, that means demanding that his agency set new guidelines for prescribing opioids for short-term pain and implementing new systems to track overdoses in hospital emergency rooms. However, a study conducted and …

Youth Concussions May Be More Common than We Thought

More U.S. high school students self-report having had a concussion than is reflected in data from hospitals and school systems, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 15% of participants in the CDC’s latest Youth Risk Behavior Study (YRBS) say they have experienced at least one concussion related to sports or physical activity over a 1-year period. That prevalence, equating to 2.5 million children, is higher than what’s …

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