10 Years of Rhodococcus: Clinical Trends and Susceptibility Profiles
Editors in Conversation
Rhodococcus infections are uncommon, however they can cause serious disease in certain patients. There are a number of challenges though when dealing with Rhodococcus infections, including the fact that much of what we know around their susceptibility profiles and the clinical management of infected individuals actually comes from a number case series and in some situations, from the veterinary literature. So today, our two guests are going to tell us about their experiences with Rhodococcus over a 10-year period and bring us up-to-speed on things like: Which species of...
info_outline
Why Phage Therapy May Fail
Editors in Conversation
Phage therapy has gained a lot of traction but the challenges created by this approach have not been properly assessed at a big scale. We often read about therapy successes on isolated cases but, rarely, we read or hear about failures. AAC recently published a case series of patients who failed phage therapy. Today, we will discuss this topic with the principal investigator on the research. Topics discussed: Phage therapy as an approach for MDR bacteria. The challenges of phage therapies. Issues that can influence the success of phage therapy Guest: . Director, Solid Organ Transplant...
info_outline
Is Lophomonas a Pathogen?
Editors in Conversation
The protozoan Lophomonas has been reported to be a pathogen of humans in a large number of case reports and case series. Most of these case reports describe infections of the respiratory tract. Editors in Conversation is joined by two experts to discuss this possible parasite. Some of the questions addressed include: What are the characteristics of the species in the genus Lophomonas? What are the laboratory and morphological data that suggest that Lophomonas species cause human infections? What are the purported clinical manifestations of Lophomonas? Finally, is Lophomonas truly a pathogen...
info_outline
Treatment of Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis
Editors in Conversation
Tuberculosis is one of the most deadly infectious diseases that still causes significant burden of disease, particularly in the developing world. The emergence of resistance to first line agents severely limits the therapeutic options and threaten the ability to control dissemination of this disease. Fortunately, new drugs and regimens are now emerging as important alternatives against these organisms. Today, we will discuss this topic with outstanding experts in the field. Welcome to the editors in conversation. Topics discussed: The burden of multidrug-resistant TB. New drugs...
info_outline
New generation B-lactam/B-lactamase inhibitors: Taniborbactam
Editors in Conversation
A new generation of B-lactamase inhibitors is likely to reach the market in the upcoming year. These broad-spectrum inhibitors exhibit activity against the most feared class B metallo-B-lactamases maintaining the inhibition of other enzymes. Recently AAC has published three papers that describe the mechanistic bases of taniborbactam resistance among metallo-enzymes. This knowledge is crucial to understand the limitation of these compounds in clinical practice. Today, we will discuss this topic with some of the authors of the mentioned papers. Welcome to the editors in conversation. Topics...
info_outline
Favorite Clinical Microbiology Papers of 2023 (JCM ed.)
Editors in Conversation
We managed to make it through 2023 without a major epidemic or pandemic, and as we get into the holiday spirit and look forward to the new year, some of us took a look back and picked out one of our favorite JCM paper published in 2023, which I will tell you, was no easy task as there were many of good ones to choose from! And personally, after looking through all the issues over the last year, it never ceases to amaze me the variety of topics that we publish on in JCM – including unique things like the evaluation of a molecular assay for diagnosis of Buruli ulcers, to development of an EIA...
info_outline
Antimicrobial Resistance in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae (JCM ed.)
Editors in Conversation
Gonorrhea remains one of the more common sexually transmitted infections. In North America, the number of reported cases has generally risen for over ten years, with interruptions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by returns to rising rates of infection. Under the selective pressure of antimicrobial treatment, antimicrobial resistance has risen, which has led to limited options for treatment Today, we will be discussing antimicrobial resistance in N. gonorrhoeae, including these questions: • How accurate is gradient diffusion...
info_outline
New Antifungals (AAC ed.)
Editors in Conversation
In the last few years we have witnessed the rise of very resistant fungal species some of them likely influenced by environmental conditions and climate change. Fortunately, there has been a bit of an explosion in the development of new antifungals and the pipeline has been strengthened in the last decade. We will have the ability to have new molecules with distinct and novel mechanisms of action in the near future that may contribute to combat recalcitrant fungal infections. Topics discussed: The overall threat of fungal resistance. The antifungal pipeline in the last few years. New...
info_outline
A Novel Coccidioides Antibody LFA (JCM ed.)
Editors in Conversation
Despite the many advances in diagnostic testing for infectious diseases, detection of Coccidoides infections continues to rely on serologic assessment for anti-fungal antibodies, and what is perhaps more astonishing is that the serologic methods we use today, such as complement fixation and immunodiffusion, were first developed about a century ago. These assays are technically challenging to maintain and perform, and as a result few labs offer this testing, and even if performed on-site, testing can take up to 3 days complete, so there is definitely room for improvement. So today, we are...
info_outline
Climate Change and Antimicrobial Resistance (AAC ed.)
Editors in Conversation
Climate change is possibly the major threat that planet earth is experiencing in this century with potential catastrophic consequences. As the planet warms, the change in weather patterns is affecting the microbial ecology in such a manner that humans are facing new health threats including emerging diseases and facing species of organisms that are more likely to survive these new climatic conditions and resist clinically useful antimicrobials. Topics discussed: The global threat of global warming. Climate change and change sin microbial ecology. The consequences of climate change and...
info_outlineWe can probably all agree that any false positive test result is bad, but I think it’s safe to say that some false positives, like a false positive HIV test for example, is much more anxiety provoking than others. And when it comes to HIV, there have been a number of key advances in the field over the past decade, include the development of improved diagnostics and optimized algorithmic approaches, all of which have allowed for earlier detection of infected patients, and particularly those with acute HIV. Among these advancements has been the development of 4th and 5th generation serologic assays, which offer multiple benefits over prior assay versions, but unfortunately, are not immune to the possibility of false positive results. So, confirmatory test remain a necessary – the challenge though is that depending on the institution and environment, the turnaround time for such confirmatory testing can be prolonged, leaving patients and clinicians in a kind of diagnostic limbo. So, is there a way to minimize the risk of false positive first-tier HIV serologic results? And that is the question will be the focus of our discussion today.
Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/kq61A3Jz67U
Guests:
- Dr. Shivanjali Shankaran - Assistant Professor and ID Clinician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Rush Medical Center in Chicago
- Dr. Beverly Sha - Professor of Medicine, also in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Rush Medical Center
This episode of Editors in Conversation is brought to you by the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and hosted by JCM Editor in Chief, Alex McAdam and Dr. Elli Theel.
Visit https://journals.asm.org/journal/jcm to read articles and/or submit a manuscript.
Follow EIC, Alex McAdam on twitter for JCM updates via https://twitter.com/JClinMicro and co-host, Elli Theel at https://twitter.com/ellitheelphd.
Subscribe to the podcast at https://asm.org/eic