The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation’s largest, independent medical student organization, is proud to announce that Dr. Jay Bhatt, AMSA National President 2006-2007, has been chosen for the 2009-2010 Harvard University Zuckerman Fellow Program.

In addition to their formal coursework, Zuckerman Fellows participate in a yearlong co-curricular program that includes small-group discussions with members of the Harvard faculty as well as other leading academics and practitioners, personal and professional skill-building workshops and a field trip. During the fellowship, Bhatt will be pursuing a Masters in Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government.

According to Bhatt, his early life experiences strengthened his interest in social change, and crystallized his vision that doctoring in underserved communities is the appropriate vehicle for this social change. “I look forward to being part of a community of people that are devoted to breaking down barriers, changing paradigms, and fighting for the public good,” says Bhatt. “The opportunity to exchange ideas and work with talented individuals and mentors committed to the public good across medicine, business, and law will inspire us to continue to push for the very best here at home and abroad.”

Bhatt is currently a primary care internal medicine resident at the Cambridge Health Alliance and a Clinical Fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School. He graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a National Health Service Corps scholar, honoring his commitment to the underserved. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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American Medical Student Association Continue reading →

Stroke patients who were left partially paralysed found that their condition improved after they received a simple and non-invasive method of brain stimulation, according to research in the September issue of the European Journal of Neurology.

Researchers from the Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, studied 60 patients with ischaemic stroke – where the blood supply is reduced to the brain who had been left with mild to moderate muscle weakness down one side of their body.

Twenty of the randomly assigned treatment group received repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied at 5-Hz over the brain hemisphere affected by the stroke and the other 20 received 1-Hz stimulation of the unaffected hemisphere. The remaining 20 formed the control group, receiving inactive placebo doses of the treatment. All patients received the same physical therapy.

“When we compared the results between the three groups, we found that both of the treatment groups showed significant motor function recovery” says co-author Anwar El Etribi, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University. “No improvements were seen in the control group who had received the placebo treatment and the same physical therapy protocol.”

The majority of the patients (95 per cent) had suffered their stroke in the last three years, having been enrolled in the study at least one month after their stroke. However, there was no difference between the level of clinical improvement and the interval since the patients’ strokes.

“We believe that people develop partial paralysis down one side after they have a stroke because the hemispheres of the brain become unbalanced” explains Professor Etribi. “The hemisphere that has not been affected can become over-active, while the damaged hemisphere can become inhibited.

“Our treatment worked on the theory that increasing the activity of the hemisphere affected by the stroke and reducing the activity of the unaffected hemisphere can reduce muscle weakness and improve overall motor function.”

The 60 patients who took part in the study had similar baseline characteristics, apart from a lower incident of ischaemic heart disease in the 5-Hz rTMS group, which was unlikely to have had an effect on recovery.

Patients averaged just under 54 years of age and just over two-thirds were male.

The patients were randomly assigned to one of the three groups and magnetic stimulation was administered in three different ways:

– Patients in group one received a daily 5-Hz session for 10 days over the part of the brain affected by the stroke. This equated to 750 pulses per session and 7,500 pulses over the course of the treatment.

– Patients in group two received a daily 1-Hz session for 10 days over the part of the brain not affected by the stroke. This equated to 150 pulses per session and 1,500 pulses over the course of the treatment.

– The “treatment” in the placebo group was applied in the same way as group two, but the stimulator was angled at 90 degrees to render it ineffective.

Patients were clinically assessed at baseline and at two, four, eight and 12 weeks using a range of tools to determine motor function and cognitive status.

Further details of the scores and the treatment sessions are outlined in detail in the full paper.

“Our study shows that using rTMS can help patients who have suffered an ischaemic stroke and are experiencing partial paralysis on one side of their body to regain motor function” says Professor Etribi. “We also found that the time interval from stroke to treatment did not have an effect on how well the patient recovered.

“It appears that inhibitory and stimulatory rTMS may well prove useful tools in long-term programmes to rehabilitate stroke patients.”

Sources: Wiley – Blackwell. AlphaGalileo Foundation.

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Australian medical schools do not have consistent fitness-to-practise policies (FTPPs) for
addressing unprofessional conduct by medical students, according to a study in the Medical
Journal of Australia.

Assoc. Prof. Paul McGurgan at the University of Western Australia, and co-authors described
current use and possible effects of Australian medical school FTPPs, and aimed to define and
benchmark FTPP best practice.

The survey included 15 of the 19 medical schools in Australia. Of these, 12 schools reported
using an FTPP. The most common reason for exclusion of medical students was persistent
inappropriate attitude or behaviour, including poor attendance, and most exclusions occurred
by the third year of study.

Prof McGurgan said that there was wide variation in the FTPP criteria used by individual
schools, and FTPP use appeared to be independent of medical student registration by the state
medical board and type of course entry. The majority of students were excluded on persistent
poor performance grounds. However, this was the criterion least likely to be included in
Australian medical schools’ FTPPs.

“Most Australian medical schools use FTPPs but these policies are variable and lack proven
effectiveness,” Prof McGurgan said.

“However, although FTPP are unproven, this may be a consequnce of limited prospective
data in the effects of their use”

“The variations in the numbers of students excluded by the different medical schools for
unprofessional behaviour suggest discrepancies in medical schools’ abilities to detect and
manage students with problems in this area.”

“Previous calls to develop a nationally consistent approach to the management of poorly
behaving students should be addressed,” Prof McGurgan said.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Source:

Medical Journal of Australia Continue reading →

At its meeting in London today, the Food Standards Agency Board was updated on the preliminary finding of H5 avian flu in a swan in Scotland.

FSA Chair Deirdre Hutton reaffirmed that the Agency’s existing advice is not changed by this development, in line with the expert opinions of the World Health Organization, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the UK’s independent expert scientific advisers.

She said: ‘If you wish to eat poultry and eggs you should continue to do so, following the normal precautions of cooking thoroughly and by that we mean cooking until there are no red juices, or in the case of eggs, cooking until the white is hard. And that advice applies to cooking chickens generally, not just because of the possibility of avian flu.’

Agency advice

The Food Standards Agency considers that avian flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.

Currently, there are no confirmed cases of the avian flu virus (H5N1) in UK birds. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that in areas free from the disease, poultry and poultry products can be prepared and eaten as usual (following good hygiene practice and proper cooking), with no fear of acquiring infection.

Like the WHO, the FSA advises proper handling during food preparation. When handling raw poultry, the person involved in the food preparation should wash their hands thoroughly and clean surfaces and utensils in contact with the poultry products. Soap and hot water are sufficient for this purpose.

In countries where avian flu is present in poultry, the virus may be present in meat and eggs from affected birds. Controls in place are intended to stop the spread of the disease. Even if virus is present in meat or eggs, several factors will contribute to preventing or limiting its effects on people. First, the virus is easily killed by cooking. Second, even if it is still present after cooking, the virus is destroyed by saliva and by gastric acid, as well as the fact that there are very few receptors the virus needs to enter the body in the gut.

European Food Safety Authority

On 26 October 2005 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued advice on the importance of thoroughly cooking poultry and eggs.

This reiterates long-standing advice about cooking poultry and eggs thoroughly to kill bugs. EFSA, like the Agency, is not aware of any reports of people getting avian flu from eating poultry or eggs and recognises that the current risk is from people having contact with live birds that have the disease.

For people, the risk of catching the disease comes from being in close contact with live poultry that have the disease, and not through eating poultry or eggs. Poultry can include chicken, duck, goose, turkey and guinea fowl and so on.

Advisory Committee on Microbiological Safety of Food

The FSA asked the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF), which provides independent expert advice to Government on questions relating to microbiology and food, to consider recent developments since it last discussed avian, or bird, flu in 2003.

The ACMSF met in December 2005 to consider current information on avian flu and the conclusions from a recent meeting of influenza virologists and epidemiologists, which was chaired by Dr David Brown of the ACMSF. The review group examined current information on avian flu and its implications for foodborne transmission in the UK.

The committee concluded that the recent information on avian flu had not changed its current risk assessment and, following the meeting, the ACMSF’s advice therefore remains as follows:
‘The risk of acquiring avian influenza through the food chain is low, and there is no direct evidence to support this route of infection.

Evidence from human infection indicates that direct contact with infected birds is the main risk factor, and that consumption of infected chickens has not been identified as a risk factor.

‘Several factors will contribute to preventing or limiting infection following ingestion of viruses, including lack of appropriate receptors, and non-specific defences such as saliva or gastric acid. Proper cooking will destroy any virus present in meat or eggs.’

The Committee also proposed that a working group be established to keep a watching brief on developments.

Questions and answers

Is it safe to eat poultry meat and eggs?

On the basis of current scientific evidence, our advice is that avian flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers. For people, the risk of catching the disease comes from being in close contact with live poultry that have the disease, and not through eating cooked poultry or eggs.

What evidence is this based on?

Our current advice is based upon the opinions of scientific experts around the world including advisers to the WHO, EFSA and the ACMSF. The FSA has monitored developments since avian flu was first reported in the Far East eight years ago. During that time, most human cases have had close contact with infected birds. We continue to monitor the most up-to-date information and evidence, as it becomes available. The FSA will keep an open mind as to any information that may lead to our advice being updated. However, current scientific opinion agrees that avian flu is not a food safety risk.

Are there measures in place to prevent infected poultry and eggs entering the food chain?

When an outbreak of avian flu occurs in wild birds or a poultry flock, the authorities are required to put in place controls that aim to prevent the spread of the disease. These controls will also mean it is unlikely that infected poultry or eggs will enter the food chain. The Agency has taken account of the low risk of infected products entering the food chain as it developed its advice for consumers and, even if avian flu were present in the UK, current FSA advice that avian flu does not pose a food safety risk to the UK consumer would still apply.

Are controls in place to stop poultry and eggs being imported from affected countries?

Controls are in place to prevent imports of live birds, poultry meat and eggs from several non-EU countries that are affected by avian flu. When an outbreak of avian flu occurs in wild birds or a poultry flock in an EU Member State, trade within the European Community may continue, but trade of poultry and poultry products from the affected parts of any Member State will be restricted to protect animal health. These controls will also mean it is very unlikely that infected poultry or eggs will enter the food chain in any affected non-EU country or EU Member State. The Agency has taken account of the low risk of infected products entering the food chain as it developed its advice for consumers, and current FSA advice that avian flu does not pose a food safety risk to the UK consumer would still apply.

How about touching uncooked poultry meat?

Our long standing advice is that you should always wash your hands after handling raw poultry meat and eggs to avoid contamination from any bugs. In countries where avian flu is present in poultry, this will also help prevent contamination with the virus.

Would cooking poultry and eggs properly kill the virus?

Cooking food thoroughly will kill bacteria and viruses. Our advice is that poultry and eggs should always be cooked properly to avoid food poisoning. Even if avian flu were present in the UK, current FSA advice on preparing, cooking and eating poultry meat and eggs would still apply.

People should follow the handling and cooking instructions for cooking poultry. If you’re cooking a whole chicken or other bird, pierce the thickest part of the leg (between drumstick and thigh) with a clean knife or skewer until the juices run clear. The juices shouldn’t have any pink or red in them and there should be no pink meat.

People should not eat raw eggs or use raw eggs in dishes that will not be cooked. Eggs should be cooked until the whites are solid.

Why does this advice differ from that of WHO?

The World Health Organisation advises the cooking of eggs until both yolks and whites are solid. The FSA have discussed this with WHO and they confirm that this advice is precautionary. Their advice on cooking eggs is relevant for all bacteria and viruses that may be present – for all parts of the world.

In the UK, independent expert advice has confirmed that it is not necessary to cook eggs until the yolks are hard to protect against exposure to the avian flu virus.

Is it safe to eat meat and eggs from vaccinated birds?

The vaccines used to vaccinate birds against avian flu do not pose any health concerns. This is provided a licensed vaccine with marketing authorisation is used, and the correct interval between vaccination and slaughter or date eggs are laid is observed.

There is no requirement for meat or eggs from vaccinated animals or birds to be labelled to indicate that they have been vaccinated.

Food Standards Agency, UK Continue reading →

Nurses to March for Employee Free Choice, Unmask Insurance Industry “Death Panels,” and Hear from RNs in Single-Payer Systems

With the approaching formation of the largest union and professional association of nurses in U.S. history, 1,200 registered nurses will convene in San Francisco Tuesday morning for the biennial convention of California’s largest RN organization, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

First on the docket Tuesday morning is a presentation on the soon to be established National Nurses United, the unification of CNA/NNOC with the United American Nurses and Massachusetts Nurses Association, creating a powerful voice of 150,000 RNs across the U.S. The NNU will hold its founding convention Dec. 7 in Arizona.

What: CNA/NNOC Biennial Convention Opens in San Francisco
When: Opening Panel on the New NNU, Yerba Buena Salon 8
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 9 a.m.
Where: San Francisco Downtown Marriott
55 Fourth St., San Francisco

In the opening panel leaders of the three organizations will highlight the emergence of a stronger national nurses movement and union and the impact it will have on national and state healthcare reform, the ability of nurses to advocate more effectively to protect patients, and standards for nurses that are vital for the retention and recruitment needed to expand the RN workforce.

Other convention highlights include:

- Don DeMoro, director of CNA/NNOC’s research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, will present new findings on Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. that 22 percent of all claims are denied by California insurance companies-as part of a presentation on “The Economics of Caring.”

- Nurse leaders from Canada, Great Britain, and Australia will address the benefits of national healthcare systems: 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9.

- 1,200 RNs will “pay a house call” Wednesday to the home of Sen. Dianne Feinstein to demand she become a sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Source
California Nurses Association Continue reading →

AMA Vice President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the AMA strongly supports a ban on the broadcast advertising of junk food to children, particularly during children’s television times.

Dr Hambleton said that the voting down of the Protecting Children from Junk Food Advertising (Broadcast Amendment) Bill 2010 in the Senate today was a huge disappointment to people concerned about the health of young Australians.

“The advertising of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods and beverages is leading to overconsumption of these products, which is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic affecting children and teenagers in Australia,” Dr Hambleton said.

“The health of our children now and in the future is of paramount importance, and should be front-of-mind in any decision about advertising and program content.

“We must not put the profits and interests of the junk food industry before the future health of Australia’s children.

“The Senate missed an opportunity to put Australia on the map as a world leader in combating obesity.

“Obesity is now challenging smoking as the major cause of preventable death in Australia.”

Dr Hambleton said that appropriate food labelling would make it easier for families to make healthy choices about the foods they provide to their children.

“Food labelling that is simple and informative, like ‘traffic light’ labelling, is essential in Australia’s fight against obesity,” Dr Hambleton said.

“The Food Labelling Law and Policy Review has recently recommended that a traffic light front-of-pack labelling system be introduced.

“The Government should adopt this recommendation and make it mandatory,” Dr Hambleton said.

Source:

Australian Medical Association Continue reading →

ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
(OTC Bulletin Board: ACCP) today announced the clinical results of
MuGard(TM) at the 18th International Symposium of the Multinational
Association of Supportive Care in Cancer in Toronto, June 22-24. MuGard(TM)
is Access’ proprietary oral rinse product for the prevention and treatment
of oral mucositis, the debilitating side-effect which afflicts more than
20% of cancer patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. Access plans
to submit a 510(k) application for U.S. marketing approval of MuGard(TM) in
the third quarter of this year.

“In our clinical study of head and neck cancer patients receiving
radiation therapy, 47% of patients using MuGard(TM) had no mucositis,”
stated Rosemary Mazanet M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Access. “Historically, patients
on the same treatment without MuGard(TM) had a high rate of mucositis, with
only 7% of patients experiencing no mucositis. In addition, the number of
patients with mild to moderate mucositis was statistically reduced as well
by the use of MuGard(TM). There is currently no well-accepted treatment for
mucositis, and we believe that these results demonstrate that MuGard(TM)
should be a valuable supportive care option for cancer patients.” The
estimated size of the market for this indication in the U.S. exceeds $1
billion. The Company is actively seeking marketing partners for this
product.

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company
that develops and commercializes propriety products for the treatment and
supportive care of cancer patients. Access’ products include ProLindac(TM),
currently in Phase II clinical testing of patients with ovarian cancer and
MuGard(TM) for the treatment of patients with mucositis. The Company also
has other advanced drug delivery technologies including vitamin-mediated
targeted delivery and oral drug delivery. For additional information on
Access Pharmaceuticals, please visit our website at
accesspharma .

This press release contains certain statements that are forward-looking
within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements
relating to the value of our products in the market, our ability to achieve
clinical and commercial success and our ability to successfully develop
marketed products. These statements are subject to numerous risks,
including but not limited to the risks detailed in the Company’s Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and other reports
filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
accesspharma Continue reading →

Our nation’s youth face major roadblocks to good health with easy access to calorie-laden snacks, sugary beverages and other unhealthy foods in their schools and communities. With about 1 out of every 6 children in the U.S. considered obese, we are condemning our kids to a bleak future of premature health problems such as type-2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease. The CDC Report: Children’s Food Environment State Indicator Report is a painful reminder that many children continue to lack access to fruits, vegetables and nutritious food close to home. We must place a greater emphasis on making healthier food choices more accessible and affordable, particularly for families living in food deserts where the nearest supermarket could be miles away and for those surrounded by fast food restaurants or corner stores with less healthy offerings.

Parents, schools, child-care facilities and communities have the potential to improve the health of young people by providing the tools they need to learn lifelong healthy behaviors. By strengthening nutrition standards in schools, pre-schools and day care settings, we can help limit kids’ exposure to unhealthy options. We must also support measures to reduce sodium and eliminate trans fat in the food supply, increase community and school gardens, reduce children’s exposure to marketing and advertising of unhealthy foods and require calorie information to be displayed on menus and menu boards in all restaurants.

Strong public policies and community programs to increase access to healthy foods will help children develop heart-healthy eating habits that could significantly reduce childhood obesity rates across the country.

To access the report, go here.

Source:

American Heart Association Continue reading →

There’s no denying that people need calcium for strong, healthy bones. But new research from North Carolina State University suggests that not getting enough calcium in the earliest days of life could have a more profound, lifelong impact on bone health and perhaps even obesity than previously thought.

During an 18-day trial involving 24 newborn pigs, the researchers documented markedly lower levels of bone density and strength in 12 piglets fed a calcium-deficient diet compared to 12 piglets that received more calcium. Not only that, but when researchers looked at certain stem cells in bone marrow, they found that many of these cells in the calcium-deficient piglets appeared to have already been programmed to become fat cells instead of bone-forming cells.

Because these programmed mesenchymal stem cells replicate to provide all the bone-forming cells for an animal’s entire life, very early calcium deficiency may have predisposed the piglets to have bones that contain more fat and less mineral. That could make those pigs more prone to osteoporosis and obesity in later life, said Dr. Chad Stahl, an associate professor of animal science who led the study.

In a longer-term study that Stahl plans to begin this month, the researchers will look at whether that’s the case: By conducting a longer feeding trial, the scientists will be able to see if the changes persist through sexual maturity, which occurs for pigs at around eight months of age.

The researchers are using pigs as a model for human health because pigs and humans are similar when it comes to bone growth and nutrition. Pigs are one of the few animals known to experience bone breaks related to osteoporosis, Stahl said.

One of the most surprising findings of the 18-day feeding study was that while the calcium-deficient pigs had substantially lower bone strength and density, blood tests didn’t indicate any difference in levels of the hormonal form of vitamin D, which regulates the amount of calcium circulating in the blood of older children and adults. Stahl said this suggests that calcium regulation in newborns isn’t dependent on vitamin D.

Stahl thinks the research is relevant to the infant food industry and suggests the significance of the nutritional status of breastfeeding mothers. It also points to a need for greater emphasis in very early life on bone health, not just during those times when children are growing most rapidly.

“While the importance of calcium nutrition throughout childhood and adolescence is well-recognized, our work suggests that calcium nutrition of the neonate may be of greater importance to lifelong bone health, due to its programming effects on mesenchymal stem cells,” Stahl reported at the recent Experimental Biology 2010 meeting in Anaheim. “It also points to a potential paradigm shift in which health professionals might want to begin thinking about osteoporosis not so much as a disease of the elderly, but instead as a pediatric disease with later onset.

“For me,” Stahl said, “the biggest message is that calcium nutrition, or mineral nutrition as a whole, needs to be a priority from day one. Early life nutrition is setting children up physiologically for the rest of their lives.”

Source: North Carolina State University

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AdvanDx announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for a fast, 90 minutes protocol for its E. faecalis/OE PNA FISH(®) test. The faster protocol reduces the PNA FISH turn-around time from the original 2.5 hours to 90 minutes by reducing PNA probe hybridization from 90 minutes to 30 minutes. Clinical validation studies performed at hospitals in the United States and Europe demonstrated 100% equivalence between the 90 minutes protocol and the original PNA FISH protocol, ensuring the faster protocol maintains the very high sensitivity and specificity required versus slower, conventional methods.

Enterococcus species cause a significant percentage of bloodstream infections (BSI) as they are the fourth most common cause of hospital-acquired bacteremia within the US and the fifth most common in Europe.(1) While infections with E. faecalis are generally susceptible to ampicillin and rarely resistant to vancomycin, infections with E. faecium and other enterococci (OE) are frequently resistant to both ampicillin and vancomycin (VRE – vancomycin-resistant enterococci). Since conventional identification methods can take 3 days or longer, up to 80% of VRE bacteremia receive inappropriate antibiotic therapy, leading to higher mortality and significant additional hospital costs.( )(2,3,4)

Since 2003, E. faecalis/OE PNA FISH has been a vital test providing species identification in hours, instead of days, allowing labs to quickly report results to physicians and pharmacists to help ensure optimal therapy for Enterococcal bloodstream infections. A recently published clinical study from the University of Maryland Medical Center demonstrated that the use of E. faecalis/OE PNA FISH reduced time to laboratory results by 2.6 days, reduced time to appropriate therapy for E. faecium by 1.8 days and most importantly, reduced 30 day mortality rates by 42% for patients with E. faecium bacteremia.(5)

With the introduction of the 90 minutes PNA FISH protocol, laboratories will be able to further improve workflow flexibility and results reporting turn-around times. By providing even faster results, laboratories will help clinicians further improve antibiotic selection, care, and outcomes for patients with Enterococcal bloodstream infections.

“We are very excited to launch the 90 minutes E. faecalis/OE PNA FISH protocol in the United States,” said Thais T. Johansen, President and CEO of AdvanDx. “The faster protocol marks another milestone toward AdvanDx’s goal of providing a fast, easy-to-use and broad molecular diagnostic platform for early identification of bloodstream pathogens. With results in 90 minutes, hospitals will be able to provide critical results as early as possible, enabling clinicians to improve care and outcomes for patients with life-threatening infections,” Johansen concluded.

About AdvanDx

AdvanDx is the leading provider of advanced molecular diagnostic products for the diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening, bloodstream infections. AdvanDx’s easy-to-use products provide fast and accurate results that enable dramatic improvements in patient care and help to save lives and reduce hospital costs.

AdvanDx’s products employ standard laboratory techniques and equipment to reduce startup, implementation, technician and maintenance time, while providing fast results without sacrificing accuracy. Major medical centers, reference labs, government institutions and community hospitals throughout the United States, Europe and Asia rely on AdvanDx products as integral parts of their medical care.

References

1. Biedenbach et al. Diagn. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 2004; 50: 59-69.

2. Lodise et al. Clin. Infec. Dis. 2002; 34: 922-929

3. Vergis et al. Ann. Intern. Med. 2001; 135: 484-492

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Information for the public about VRE.

5. Forrest et al. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2008 Oct;52(10):3558-63.

Source: AdvanDx Continue reading →