Pneumonia in transplant patients can be avoidedApril 02, 2002Life-threatening pneumonia in bone marrow transplant (BMT) patients can be controlled using a strategy called pre-emptive therapy, scientists heard today (Wednesday 10 April 2002) at the spring meeting of the Society for General Microbiology at the University of Warwick. "We have found that early diagnosis and treatment of colds and flu in transplant and immunocompromised patients can reduce the risk of pneumonia. But pre-emptive therapy is not just a question of providing drugs to patients. This research has highlighted the need for strict infection control measures to be put in place," says Dr Anna Maria Geretti of King’s College Hospital, London. Dr Geretti explains, "Hospitals need to set up surveillance programmes within BMT units based on prompt recognition of symptoms and rapid viral diagnostic methods. Health care workers should receive the flu vaccine, and we may have to restrict access to family members and visitors even if they have only minor symptoms such as a runny nose." Respiratory viruses may affect nearly 50% of high-risk patients during winter months. Influenza, Parainfluenza and Respiratory Syncytical Viruses are common. In these patients infections can spread from the upper respiratory tract to the lungs causing life-threatening pneumonia. Available treatments do not show any benefit once severe pneumonia has developed. Dr Geretti says, "Raising awareness of the potential severity of viral respiratory infections may reduce the number of deaths in high-risk patients. BMT and AIDS patients with respiratory infections may also benefit from several new antiviral drugs, such as neuraminidase inhibitors." Society for General Microbiology |
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| Related Pneumonia Current Events and Pneumonia News Articles Prioritizing low-cost, simple health measures would save 2.5 million child lives a year Almost a third of the children under age five who die each year could be saved if governments rebalance health spending to ensure low-cost, simple interventions such as safe water and hygiene, bed nets and basic maternal and newborn care, leading aid agency World Vision said today. Currently, 8.8 million children a year die before age five, most of preventable causes. Fewer emergency patients seen within recommended time frame One in four emergency department patients in 2006 waited longer to be evaluated by a clinician than recommended at triage, an increase from one in five in 1997. Possible help in fight against muscle-wasting disease A compound already used to treat pneumonia could become a new therapy for an inherited muscular wasting disease, according to researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. Henry Ford Hospital study: A MRSA strain linked to high death rates A strain of MRSA that causes bloodstream infections is five times more lethal than other strains and has shown to have some resistance to the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin used to treat MRSA, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. Commentary warns of unexpected consequences of proton pump inhibitor use in reflux disease Despite being highly effective and beneficial for many patients, unexpected consequences are emerging in patients who are prescribed proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for reflux diseases. Scientists discover influenza's Achilles heel: Antioxidants As the nation copes with a shortage of vaccines for H1N1 influenza, a team of Alabama researchers have raised hopes that they have found an Achilles' heel for all strains of the flu-antioxidants. Lessons from flu seasons past Pregnant women who catch the flu are at serious risk for flu-related complications, including death, and that risk far outweighs the risk of possible side effects from injectable vaccines containing killed virus, according to an extensive review of published research and data from previous flu seasons. Older Patients with Dementia at Increased Risk for Flu Mortality An epidemiological study on pneumonia and influenza (P&I) in adults age 65 and over reports that patients with dementia are diagnosed with flu less frequently, have shorter hospital stays, and have a fifty percent higher rate of death than those without dementia. OMRF scientists discover promising new path for treating traumas A discovery by scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation could help save lives threatened by traumatic injuries like those sustained in car crashes or on the battlefield. The work also holds potential for treating severe infectious diseases and diabetes. Scientists create NICE solution to pneumonia vaccine testing problems Medical clinics the world over could benefit from new software* created at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where a team of scientists has found a way to improve the efficiency of a pneumonia vaccine testing method developed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). More Pneumonia Current Events and Pneumonia News Articles |
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