Open forum infectious diseases
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In December 2018, a large, tertiary, university-affiliated hospital in the Philippines discovered that their legitimate supply chain was infiltrated with counterfeit rabies vaccines. ⋯ Our experience demonstrates the need for strong intervention and collaborative response from all stakeholders-government and regulatory bodies, the pharmaceutical industry, and individual institutions and consumers-to effectively eradicate counterfeiting and protect our patients.
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Open Forum Infect Dis · Aug 2020
The Correlation Between Clinical Features and Viral RNA Shedding in Outpatients With COVID-19.
Patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can shed virus, thereby causing human-to-human transmission, and the viral RNA shedding is commonly used as a proxy measure for infectivity. ⋯ Outpatients who were old, had severe illness, and had severe underlying diseases had high viral RNA shedding.
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Open Forum Infect Dis · Aug 2020
Clinical Characteristics of Pregnant Women With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic. Despite the growing number of patients with COVID-19 infection, data on the clinical characteristics of pregnant patients are still limited. ⋯ Pregnant patients with COVID-19 had a lower level of severity and an enhanced inflammatory response and cell immunity when compared with nonpregnant patients.
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Open Forum Infect Dis · Aug 2020
Alignment With Market Forces: The "Re-Whithering" of Infectious Diseases.
Given constant emergence of new infectious threats, infectious diseases (ID) should be one of the most attractive medical specialties to students and trainees. Yet, ID Fellowship programs continue to not fill in the match, and ID remains among the lowest paid specialties. ⋯ Petersdorf first asked the question, we find ourselves once again wondering, "Whither Infectious Diseases?" To answer this question, and align with predominant US market forces, ID experts should push for the following: (1) restrictions regarding utilization of ID diagnostics and antimicrobial agents; (2) pay-for-performance measures regarding antimicrobial prescribing rates; and (3) healthcare reform as called for by the American College of Physicians to move away from fee-for-service medicine. Einstein said, "Continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity." We must move towards alignment with market forces, to benefit our patients, society, and our colleagues.