ASCLS eNewsBytes

• BIDMC researchers confirm high toxin levels linked to more severe C. difficile infection October 18, 2021
  Estimated to cause almost half a million infections per year, the bacterium Clostridioides difficile, also known as C. difficile or “C. diff,” can cause diarrhea and inflammation of the large intestine. Most often affecting patients who are older and/or have weakened immune systems, C. difficile infections are especially common among hospitalized patients and in patients […]
• Cell-based flu vaccine effective among children in randomized trial October 18, 2021
  A cell-based influenza vaccine was 54% effective among children during three recent influenza seasons and provided protection regardless of previous vaccination status, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial. Most influenza vaccines — including approximately 82% of this year’s U.S. supply — are still manufactured using egg-based technology.
• Investigating why small cell lung cancer is so aggressive October 18, 2021
  The Human Tumor Atlas Network aims to develop high-resolution maps of many kinds of cancer so that clinicians can have a more-complete view of the textured terrain of tumors — including how they change over time to become more deadly.
• Asthma exacerbations worse in patients with other Type 2 inflammatory diseases October 18, 2021
  A new study of nearly a quarter-million patients with asthma found a high percentage have at least one co-existing Type 2 (cT2) inflammatory disease, and patients with a higher inflammatory disease burden are more likely to experience asthma exacerbations.
• COVID-19 is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of urbanites October 18, 2021
  Rural Americans are dying of COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated.