After the rapid spread of coronavirus-19 infectious disease (COVID-19) worldwide between February and April 2020, with a total of 5,267,419 confirmed cases and 341,155 deaths as of May 25, 2020, in ...the last weeks we are observing a decrease in new infections in European countries, and the confirmed cases are not as severe as in the past, so much so that the number of patients transferred to intensive care for the worsening of the systemic and pulmonary disease is dramatically decreasing. ...
Emerging infections represent a concern especially when their increase is rapid and their mortality is high. They can be caused by previously undetected or unknown pathogens, by known agents ...affecting new geographical sites or new populations, or by re-emerging agents whose incidence of disease had significantly declined in the past. The main causes of emerging infectious disease (EID) spread include crowding; mobility (tourism, migration, asylum seekers, and refugees); centralization of food production and supply and new food vehicles; war, famine, and displacement; and change in vector distribution and susceptibility. Another important issue regarding EIDs is the source of pathogens, with 60.3% of cases from a non-human animal origin (zoonotic pathogens). If emerging viral infections represent a concern mainly in underdeveloped areas of the world, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance is a growing concern worldwide especially in developed and high-income countries, where misuse and overuse of antibiotics among humans and in the veterinary setting, including animal feeding, artificially created the selection of resistant strains. Future threats include not only diseases caused by viral agents, such as the case of Ebola virus disease periodical re-emergence, but also infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is estimated that in 2050, deaths due to antimicrobial-resistant infections will be higher than those due to cancer. Keywords: Emerging infections, ebola virus disease, antimicrobial resistance, zoonosis
Multidrug-resistant (MDR)
represents an increasing threat to human health, causing difficult-to-treat infections with a high mortality rate. Since colistin is one of the few treatment options for ...carbapenem-resistant
, colistin resistance represents a challenge due to the limited range of potentially available effective antimicrobials, including tigecycline, gentamicin, fosfomycin and ceftazidime/avibactam. Moreover, the choice of these antimicrobials depends on their pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics properties, the site of infection and the susceptibility profile of the isolated strain, and is sometimes hampered by side effects. This review describes the features of colistin resistance in
and the characteristics of the currently available antimicrobials for colistin-resistant MDR
, as well as the characteristics of novel antimicrobial options, such as the soon-to-be commercially available plazomicin and cefiderocol. Finally, we consider the future use of innovative therapeutic strategies in development, including bacteriophages therapy and monoclonal antibodies.
The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has once again stigmatised the importance of airborne pathogens and their clinical, social and public health impact. ...Respiratory viruses are transmitted between individuals when the pathogen is released from the upper airways or from the lower respiratory tract of an infected individual. Airborne transmission is defined as the inhalation of the infectious aerosol, named droplet nuclei which size is smaller than 5 mm and that can be inhaled at a distance up to 2 metres. This route of transmission is relevant for viral respiratory pathogens, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, influenza virus, human rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other respiratory virus families that differ in viral and genomic structures, susceptibility of a population to the infection, severity, transmissibility, ways of transmission and seasonal recurrence. Human respiratory viruses generally infect cells of the upper respiratory tract, eliciting respiratory signs and symptoms, sometimes without the possibility to differentiate them clinically. As seen by the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, human respiratory viruses can substantially contribute to increased morbidity and mortality, economic losses and, eventually, social disruption. In this article, we describe the structural, clinical and transmission aspects of the main respiratory viruses responsible for endemic, epidemic and pandemic infections.
Abstract Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an emerging problem worldwide associated with significant morbidity, mortality, recurrence rates and healthcare costs. Immunosuppressed patients, ...including HIV-seropositive individuals, solid organ transplant recipients, patients with malignancies, hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients, and patients with inflammatory bowel disease are increasingly recognized as being at higher risk of developing CDI where it may be associated with significant complications, recurrence, and mortality. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has proven to be an effective and safe procedure for the treatment of recurrent or refractory CDI in immunocompetent patients by restoring the gut microbiota and resistance to further recurrences. During the last two years the first data on FMT in immunocompromised patients began to appear in the medical literature. Herein we summarize the use of FMT for the treatment of CDI with a focus on immunocompromised patients.
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