Water-jet nozzles in electric toilets--commonly used in Japan and other parts of Asia--may be reservoirs for multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRP) in hospitals, increasing the risk of dangerous germ transmission among patients, according to new research being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year. "This is the first report of hospital transmissions associated with electric toilets and could have major implications for infection control," says Dr Itaru Nakamura from Tokyo Medical University Hospital ...

New research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) taking place online (9-12 July) shows that covering high-touch (the most regularly touched) surfaces in hospitals with silver-impregnated foil could significantly reduce levels of contamination by clinically important bacterial pathogens. The study by Professor Andreas Widmer and colleagues at the University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, evaluated the antimicrobial effectiveness of a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foil containing an integrated silver-based agent containing 2% silver ions. The hospital environment has increasingly been recognised as having critical importance when formulating infection control measures ...

Obese patients with a form of advanced prostate cancer survive longer than overweight and normal weight patients, new research has found. The study, presented today at the European Association of Urology congress, EAU21, followed more than 1500 patients over three years. Patients classed as obese - with a BMI over 30 - had a ten percent higher survival rate than thinner patients over 36 months. Although obesity is usually associated with an increased risk of death from many cancers and some other chronic diseases, there is some evidence in a few cancers of a survival advantage for patients with high body mass index. ...

Being immersed in a stunning 'virtual' Icelandic landscape can reduce the pain caused by uncomfortable medical procedures, new research has found. The study compared patients with and without virtual reality (VR) headsets having rigid cystoscopies, where a rigid telescope is inserted through the urethra into the bladder. The research is being presented today at the European Association of Urology congress, EAU21. Diagnosing and treating bladder cancer usually requires checking the bladder through a cystoscopy, which is perceived by patients as unpleasant and painful. Some patients avoid follow-up and as a result suffer uncontrolled and irreversible development of the disease. It is possible to have a flexible cystoscopy, which is less painful, ...

A new class of drug successfully targets treatment-resistant prostate cancers and prolongs the life of patients. The treatment delivers beta radiation directly to tumour cells, is well tolerated by patients and keeps them alive for longer than standard care, found a phase 3 trial to be presented at the European Association of Urology congress, EAU21, today. Despite progress in medicine in recent years, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer remains untreatable and fatal. The new treatment, known as Lu-PSMA-617, takes a new approach, targeting a molecule called PSMA, which is known to be increased on the surfaces of the tumour cells, destroying them and their surrounding microenvironment. Professor Johann de Bono, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at The ...

Using an existing drug for late-stage kidney cancer at an earlier stage of the disease could reduce the risk of cancer recurring by a third, according to new research. The findings from the Phase III trial are presented today at the European Association of Urology congress (EAU21). There is a high risk of kidney cancer returning, following surgery to remove tumours, but there is currently no treatment to help prevent this. The KEYNOTE study involved just under 1000 patients with kidney cancer who had undergone surgery. Half of them were given the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, or pembro, and the other half a placebo. Pembro is used to treat a number of cancers, including late-stage kidney cancer, where the disease has spread to ...

Researchers in Belgium report on the case of a 90-year-old woman who was simultaneously infected with two different variants of concern (VOCs) of COVID-19, in a Case Report being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year. On March 3 2021, the woman, whose medical history was unremarkable, was admitted to the OLV Hospital in the Belgian city of Aalst after a spate of falls. She tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day. She lived alone and received nursing care at home, and had not been vaccinated against COVID-19. Initially, there were no ...

New research being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online this year, reveals raw dog food to be a major source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, making it an international public health risk. With some of the multidrug-resistant bacteria in raw dog food identical to those found in hospital patients in several different European countries, the researchers say the trend for feeding dogs raw food may be fuelling the spread of antibiotic resistant-bacteria. Drug-resistant infections kill an estimated 700,000 people a year globally and, with the figure projected to rise to 10 million ...

The dangerous mcr-1 gene, which provides resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin, has been found in four healthy humans and two pet dogs. In two cases, both dog and owner were harbouring the gene, according to new research being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year. Since first being reported in China in 2015, the mcr-1 gene has been found in various people and animals around the world. It confers resistance to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort used to treat infections from some bacteria resistant to all other antibiotics. The nightmare scenario that could emerge is mcr-1 combining with already drug-resistant bacteria ...

Nashville, Tenn. (3:24 p.m. EDT--July 10, 2021)--Approximately 12 percent of patients who underwent shoulder stabilization surgery experience arthritis in the shoulder joint within a seven-year period, according to research presented today at the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine-Arthroscopy Association of North America Combined 2021 Annual Meeting. "While arthroscopic stabilization for posterior glenohumeral instability has shown excellent success preventing recurrent instability and allowing return to sport, eventual progression to glenohumeral arthritis ...

Nashville, Tenn. (July 10 2021--2:25 EDT)--Patients undergoing hip arthroscopy with high-grade cartilage damage do not see as positive results compared with patients with lower grade cartilage damage, according to research reported today at the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine- Arthroscopy Association of North America Combined 2021 Annual Meeting. The research was presented by Dominic Carreira, MD, of Peachtree Orthopedics in Atlanta, Ga. Dr. Carreira and his colleagues sought to determine what the impact of acetabular cartilage damage on outcomes following primary repair of acetabular labral tears. When articular cartilage is damaged, joint ...

Nashville, Tenn. (1:35 p.m. EDT--July 10, 2021) -- Use of a biodegradable balloon spacer during massive rotator cuff tear surgery produced similar outcomes when compared to partial rotator cuff repair for patients with massive rotator cuff tears (MRCTs) at 24-month follow up, with potential for early improvement, according to research presented today at the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine - Arthroscopy Association of North America Combined 2021 Annual Meeting. Despite various treatment options, the successful management of irreparable, MRCTs remains challenging. Implantation of a biodegradable subacromial balloon spacer has gained considerable interest for the treatment of MCRTs due to its potential to recenter the humeral ...

"Topological defects" are formed when the symmetry of a magnetic material is disrupted. Domain walls (DWs) are a type of topological defect that separates regions of different magnetic orientations. A widely studied phenomenon, the manipulation of these defects has potential applications in high-performance memory storage devices, energy processing devices, and quantum computing. Recently, the possibility of other topological defects embedded in or combined with DWs has gained attention for their potential applications in different fields of physics. Some examples of these "defects within defects" ...

Supplementing testosterone significantly reduces heart attacks and strokes in men with unnaturally low levels of the hormone, according to new research presented at the European Association of Urology congress today. The ten-year study involved over 800 men from Germany and Qatar with testosterone deficiency, whose family history, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, diabetes or weight put them at high risk of heart attack or stroke. Only men with testosterone levels below normal, who also displayed symptoms of low testosterone, such as low mood, decreased appetite, depression, erectile dysfunction, loss of libido or weight gain, were included in the research. Just ...

Outpatient antibiotic prescribing fell by almost 4% a year between 2011 and 2018, according to a study of prescribing patterns in the largest integrated health care system in the USA, being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year. Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities play a large role in the provision of outpatient care across the USA, providing care to over 9 million Veterans at more than 1,200 outpatient clinics. The researchers speculate that the downward trend may be related to the antibiotic stewardship programmes widely implemented across the Veterans ...

New research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) taking place online (9-12 July), suggests that three commonly prescribed classes of drugs that are not themselves antibiotics--proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), beta-blockers and antimetabolites--could lead to antibiotic resistant infections caused by bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family. These antibiotic resistant infections are in turn linked to longer hospital stays and potentially greater risk of death. The observational study underscores the importance of commonly used non-antimicrobial drugs (NAMDs) as a risk factor for antibiotic resistance, researchers say. Bacteria are thought to develop antibiotic resistance largely due to repeated exposure through over-prescribing, ...

*Note: this paper is being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) and is being published in The Lancet Public Health. Please credit both the congress and the journal in your stories* New research from Switzerland presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online this year, shows that people living in poorer neighbourhoods were less likely to be tested for COVID-19 but more likely to test positive, be hospitalised, or die, compared with those in more wealthy areas. The study is by Professor ...

A new study (the ATOMIC2 trial), presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) and published simultaneously in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, shows the antimicrobial drug azithromycin - already approved for use in multiple infections - does not prevent mild COVID-19 cases progressing to hospitalisation or death. The study, by Dr Timothy Hinks, John Radcliffe Hospital and University of Oxford, UK, and colleagues, shows that azithromycin should not be used as a treatment for COVID-19 and all countries must stop using it for this purpose, to prevent resistance developing to azithromycin in other infections. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has not only started a rush to develop new treatments, but also investigations ...

For interviews with the report authors, please contact Dr Waasila Jassat, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa E) waasilaj@nicd.ac.za T) +27(0)82 927 4138 Alternative contact in the ECCMID Press Room: Tony Kirby T) + 44(0)7834 385827 E) tony@tonykirby.com or Rachael Davies T) +44(0)797 456 0784 E) rachaelvdavies@hotmail.co.uk Notes to editors: [1] Wave 1: (14721 deaths/59617625 SA population)*100,000 = 24.7 deaths per 100,000 people Wave 2: (28682 deaths/59617625 SA population)*100,000 = 48.1 deaths per 100,000 ...

New research presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) shows the importance of receiving the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and also the need to constantly review and update vaccines to deal with new variants of concern. The study is by Dr Nicole Schneiderhan-Marra, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen, Reutlingen, Germany, and colleagues. While vaccines have begun to bring the pandemic under control in certain countries, it remains unclear how effective these vaccines will continue to be as the virus mutates and evolves. The protection generated against the virus by vaccination is normally measured by antibodies, with a certain group ...

A presentation at this year's European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online this year, will discuss the growing evidence that the beta SARS-CoV-2 variant first identified in South Africa is leading to more severe disease in people living with HIV, and that failure to clear SARS-CoV-2 infection in a patient with advanced HIV creates conditions that can lead to evolution of dangerous mutations in SARS-CoV-2. Control of HIV with antiretroviral therapy could be the key to preventing such evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in patients with advanced HIV, since clearance of the virus is compromised if HIV is allowed to replicate for ...

Nashville, Tenn. (4:14 p.m. EDT--July 9, 2021)--Orthopedic surgeons know that knee surgeries that require revisions have inferior outcomes compared with primary surgeries but until now, the reason for this was unknown. Today a team of orthopedic physicians reports that opting for a transtibial surgical approach and choosing an inference screw for femoral and tibial fixation will improve the patient's odds of having a significantly better six-year clinical outcome. The research was presented today at the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine- Arthroscopy Association of North America Combined 2021 Annual Meeting by Rick Wright MD, ...

Sea otters are the smallest marine mammal. As cold-water dwellers, staying warm is a top priority, but their dense fur only goes so far. We have long known that high metabolism generates the heat they need to survive, but we didn't know how they were producing the heat -- until now. Researchers recently discovered that sea otters' muscles use enough energy through leak respiration, energy not used to perform tasks, that it accounts for their high metabolic rate. The finding explains how sea otters survive in cold water. Physiologist Tray Wright, research assistant professor in Texas A&M University's College of Education & Human Development, conducted the study along with colleagues ...

In the United States, nearly every pediatric doctor's visit begins with three measurements: weight, height and head circumference. Compared to average growth charts of children across the country, established in the 1970s, a child's numbers can confirm typical development or provide a diagnostic baseline to assess deviations from the curve. Yet, the brain, of vital importance to the child's development, is merely hinted at in these measurements. Head circumference may indicate a head growth issue, which could be further investigated to determine if there is an issue with brain size or extra fluid. But now, in the age of ...

Growth impairment, a common complication of Crohn's disease in children, occurs more often in males than females, but the reasons are unclear. Now, a physician-scientist from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian and colleagues at eight other centers have found that factors associated with statural growth differ by sex. Their recent publication, identified as the "Editor's Choice / Leading Off" article and receiving a mention on the cover of the June issue of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, underscores the need for investigating and developing sex-specific treatment strategies for children with Crohn's disease, an approach that is not currently part ...