Recently, a nephrologist I work with chased me down to ask my opinion of the new and interesting study that concludes concomitant vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam (hereforth to be called vancosyn) was more nephrotoxic than concomitant vancomycin and cefepime (vancopime). “Yes, indeed, I have heard the data but which study are you calling new?” I wondered. […]
Historic United Nations General Assembly Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance
Today at the United Nations General Assembly Meeting, all 193 member countries are set to agree to combat antimicrobial resistance, “the biggest threat to modern medicine”. I couldn’t be happier. Antimicrobial resistance has been well-known to scientists since the first antibiotic, penicillin, was created. But it has only been in the last few years that […]
Risky Fluoroquinolones
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a black box warning for the class of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones which includes the popularly prescribed Levaquin (levofloxacin), Avelox (moxifloxacin), and Cipro (ciprofloxacin). The warning advises that the serious side effects associated with this class of antibiotics “generally outweigh the benefits for patients with acute sinusitis, […]
Surviving Sepsis – A Word to the Wise…
I just read a really awful heart-wrenching story in the New York Times today. It’s the story of Rory Staunton, a 12 year old boy in New York City who presented to his pediatrician’s office on a Thursday ill with fever, vomiting, and leg pain; was sent to the emergency room at NYU Langone where […]
Bacteria are laughing at us!
I came across a nice article in the October issue of the Atlantic titled Resistance is Futile. It attempts to describe the problem of antibiotic resistance from an economic viewpoint. While I don’t understand all those nuances, despite my couple semesters of economics in college, I still think it’s an overall good read. I loved […]