Infectious Disease

The FDA has cleared Roche's cobas Strep A test for use by health care professionals in non-traditional settings, including pharmacies and physician offices.

What should these pharmacists do?

Hospitals can now order Actavis's ceftazidime-avibactam (Avycaz) to treat serious infections in adults.

Record number of orphan drugs approved in 2014.

Gilead Sciences is seeking FDA approval for emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide.

Patients who suffer from chronic conditions are at a higher risk for medical-related episodes and errors.

The FDA has granted 2 breakthrough therapy designations to grazoprevir/elbasvir.

Readmission rates among patients with heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia increase when psychiatric illness is also present.

A recipe described in a 1000-year-old book may possess some antimicrobial activity.

Advances in treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus have been breaking news in the last few years.

Changes to immunization schedules, a review of this season's flu shot, and potential vaccines in the pipeline were broached at the American Pharmacist Association's Annual Meeting and Exposition session on immunizations.

Commonly cited estimates on how easily newly infected patients transmit HIV may be vastly overstated.

Pharmacists can serve as an important resource for patients traveling abroad.

More than 90% of HIV transmissions originate from undiagnosed and untreated individuals. On the other hand, those retained in medical care who have achieved viral suppression are 94% less likely to transmit HIV.

Using scare tactics to sway vaccine skeptics' views tends to backfire, suggesting that pharmacists and other health care professionals should alter their approach to counseling these patients.

An OTC allergy medication may be able to kill the bacteria behind Lyme disease, bringing researchers closer to developing the first targeted therapy for the debilitating infection.

Preventing exposures to blood and body fluids is critical to preventing occupationally acquired HIV.

The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for an antigen rapid test (ReEBOV/Corgenix) to detect Ebola Zaire virus.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries recently launched generic versions of Sanofi's enoxaparin sodium injection (Lovenox) and Pfizer's linezolid injection (Zyvox).

Recent superbug exposure reported at a hospital in Los Angeles has shed light on the importance of antimicrobial stewardship.

More than 100 patients at a hospital in Los Angeles may have been exposed to a "superbug" that has been linked to at least 2 deaths at the facility.

Patients, especially infants, who are infected with respiratory syncytial virus may face an increased risk of developing pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, a recent study suggests.

The current measles outbreak across 14 US states indicates that too few individuals are being vaccinated to prevent infections, according to Jason Gallagher, a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at Temple University.

A recent study has identified how chronic hepatitis infection can pave the way to liver cancer.

The recent California measles outbreak appears to have galvanized the public's attention in a way earlier outbreaks have not, putting the anti-vaccine movement on the defensive.

Measles cases in Arizona and elsewhere could soar as football fans pour into the state for the Super Bowl.

Pharmacist collaboration with physicians during a national shortage of intravenous trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole may have helped mitigate negative treatment outcomes among HIV-infected patients with Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia.

The FDA today approved Bexsero, a vaccine to prevent invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B in patients aged 10 to 25 years.

Hospitalization for pneumonia increases a patient's risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a paper published in the January 20, 2015 edition of JAMA.

As we are all aware, the flu vaccine is not a perfect match this season.