Infectious Disease
Expert guidance on antimicrobial stewardship, emerging infections, and complex infectious disease management.
Recent Discussions
Under what circumstances do you recommend use of antibiotics during end-of-life care?
I use antibiotics at the end of life for palliation of pain and suffering after discussion with the hospitalist, family, and patient, if possible.
What is the best alternative oral therapy for treatment of non-severe pulmonary nocardiosis in an immunocompetent patient with sulfa allergy?
We have been using linezolid for this indication, based on a paper from ARUP Labs.Schlaberg et al., PMID 24247124
Do you recommend the use of ampicillin/ceftriaxone for prosthetic valve endocarditis due to ampicillin-susceptible Enterococcus faecium?
The prognosis for Enterococcus faecalis endocarditis is generally better than that for Enterococcus faecium, primarily due to antibiotic susceptibility patterns. It is fortunate to have an ampicillin-susceptible strain of E. faecium in this case of prosthetic valve infective endocarditis. In general...
Do you treat complicated pneumonia with a drained empyema longer if Streptococcus anginosus is cultured, either in isolation or with other organisms, compared to cases in which it is not?
Targeted antimicrobial therapy for any bacterial etiology of an empyema will be individualized for each patient but a general duration of 4-6 weeks. I would not consider strep anginosus differently in this regard. What I am looking for is adequacy of drainage with clinical improvement. Radiographic ...
When would you consider glucocorticoids as adjunctive therapy for for community-acquired pneumonia outside of the ICU setting?
Thank you for bringing this new study to my attention; I hadn't seen it yet. After reviewing the article, my practice regarding steroids remains unchanged. While the trial was well-executed, and it is laudable to see such research coming out of a limited-resource setting, that environment differs si...
How would you approach treatment of latent TB for patients who cannot tolerate rifamycins or isoniazid due to allergy, intolerance, or drug-drug interactions?
Levofloxacin or moxifloxacin. Duration is 6-9 months.
How do people approach non-HIV patients with hepatitis B, a negative Hepatitis B E antigen, normal LFTs and relatively low HBV DNA between 2000-20000?
Treatment of chronic Hep B is recommended to prevent maternal-fetal transmission, reactivation during chemotherapy, recurrence after liver transplantation, and in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Treatment has been shown to reverse fibrosis and cirrhosis. Specifically referring to the above sc...
Would you recommend empiric coverage for vancomycin-resistance enterococcus in an unstable patient with sepsis, multiple comorbidities, and a recent ICU stay in a high VRE prevalence unit, despite recent cultures without growth of VRE?
I would go back to the assessment of community onset vs hospital onset as to when the sepsis is "setting in." If patient is coming from the community, hasn't had antibiotics in the last 90 days, hospitalized in the last 90 days, has no positive microbiology for VRE in the last year, then no, I would...
Do you routinely prescribe linezolid to patients who are concomitantly on methadone?
There are a few ways to interpret this question: Potential for serotonin syndrome with possible interaction between methadone and linezolid. Potential for further QTc prolongation with the addition of linezolid to methadone. Whether empiric oral antibiotics (when IV antibiotics could be used) are ...
Do you routinely recommend D-mannose or probiotics for patients with recurrent urinary tract infections?
I would like to add that estrogen is very helpful for postmenopausal women with recurrent UTIs-- and is underprescribed for this use. Data seems to be strongest for vaginal estrogen, but see for example, Tan-Kim et al., PMID 37178856 and Rosenblum, PMID 33927578.