Background: Approximately 5-10% of the US population reports a Penicillin (PCN) allergy. Only 1 in 10 of these patients are found to have a positive reaction to PCN. This label comes at a grave cost, with higher incidences of multidrug-resistant nosocomial infections reported among these patients. With the lack of novel antibiotics and the alarming [...]

Background: Inpatient antibiotic stewardship programs often use pre-prescription approval (PPA) or prospective audit and feedback (PAF) to reduce fluoroquinolone prescribing. Whether these stewardship strategies targeting inpatient fluoroquinolone use also influence prescribing at discharge is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effect of fluoroquinolone stewardship on discharge fluoroquinolone use in patients with pneumonia or a [...]

Background: Approximately 5-10% of the US population reports a Penicillin (PCN) allergy. Only 1 in 10 of these patients are found to have a positive reaction to PCN. This label comes at a grave cost, with higher incidences of multidrug-resistant nosocomial infections reported among these patients. With the lack of novel antibiotics and the alarming [...]

Background: Inpatient antibiotic stewardship programs often use pre-prescription approval (PPA) or prospective audit and feedback (PAF) to reduce fluoroquinolone prescribing. Whether these stewardship strategies targeting inpatient fluoroquinolone use also influence prescribing at discharge is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effect of fluoroquinolone stewardship on discharge fluoroquinolone use in patients with pneumonia or a [...]

Background: Sepsis, which is life-threatening organ dysfunction occurring in response to systemic infection, is a frequently fatal syndrome for which early recognition and treatment are paramount. While there are some reports that female and black patients with sepsis experience greater delays in time to antibiotics, there is an overall paucity of published data on whether [...]

Background: With standard diagnostic methods, the etiologic pathogen of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is detected in ≤ 50% hospitalized CAP patients. In our previous studies using a diagnostic “bundle”, we were able to detect etiologic pathogens in ≥ 70 % of the patients. Our bundle consisted of a nasopharyngeal swab for Biofire film array, that [...]

Background: Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) account for more than 100,000 inpatient admissions yearly. IDSA guidelines recommend Nitrofurantoin as first line therapy and recent FDA guidelines recommend against Fluoroquinolone (FQ) use due their side effects and growing resistance; however, Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim (Bactrim) and Ciprofloxacin are still commonly used to treat uncomplicated UTIs. Therefore we hypothesized that [...]

Background: Rifaximin, a nonsystemic antibiotic, may be used alone or in combination with lactulose for reducing the risk of overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) recurrence in adults. This analysis evaluated rifaximin alone and rifaximin + lactulose (combination) on health-related quality of life (QOL) and caregiver burden in patients with a history of OHE. Methods: In a [...]

Background: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a common neurological complication in patients with cirrhosis. In addition to numerous morbidity-related issues, HE is associated with substantial economic burden. Treatment includes lactulose or rifaximin, a nonsystemic antibiotic that is indicated for reducing the risk of overt HE recurrence in adults. Rifaximin has also been shown to reduce the [...]

Case Presentation: A 24-year-old female with a history of IV drug abuse and MRSA tricuspid native valve endocarditis was treated for lobar pneumonia 4 months prior to readmission for non-bloody cough and pleuritic chest pain. Recurrence of lobar pneumonia was suspected but workup instead revealed Mycobacterium abscessus bacteremia. She denies any fevers, chills, nausea, vomiting, [...]