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Clinical

  1. April 10, 2024

    Meningococcal Meningitis on the Rise

    The CDC is alerting doctors to be on the lookout for certain types of rare, serious meningococcal infections that are on the rise in the United States.

    This alarming increase is caused by Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, which has caused 1 in 6 people to die, a higher fatality rate than they typically see with meningococcal infections.

    These cases are also unusual because they are striking middle-aged adults. Typically, meningitis infections strike babies or adolescents and young adults.

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  2. April 03, 2024

    Turning the Tide: The NSCSS Task Force's Battle Against Rising Syphilis Rates

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its 2022 Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Surveillance Report providing U.S. data for nationally notifiable STI’s for federally funded control programs.

    According to the report, syphilis cases (all stages and congenital syphilis) increased 80 percent from 2018-2022. More than 3,700 congenital syphilis cases were reported in 2022, reflecting an alarming 937 percent increase in the past decade, said Laura Bachmann, MD, MPH, Acting Director, CDC’s Division of STD Prevention in her announcement letter included in the report.

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  3. March 19, 2024

    Celebrating National Poultry Day 2024

    Get ready to cluck with excitement because it's National Poultry Day! At Hardy Diagnostics, we're proud to offer a range of products designed to support poultry farmers in maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality. 

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  4. March 14, 2024

    Why Public Health Depends Upon Antimicrobial Stewardship

    As hundreds of thousands of patients come face-to-face with health issues related to antibiotic-resistant infections, the scientific community must address the significance of antimicrobial stewardship and its core principles.

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  5. March 04, 2024

    The Colorful History of Chromogenic Media

    The benefits of using chromogenic media include faster results, reliable visual detection and additional testing is possible directly from the media. Compared with the use of conventional culture media, this often results in cost savings from reduced labor time and reduced use of reagents as fewer biochemical and/or serological confirmation tests are required.

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  6. February 28, 2024

    Anaerobic Culture Media's Crucial Role in Diagnosing Unique Gas Gangrene Case

    Postoperative infections are one of the most common complications in general surgery, and rates have been reduced with the routine administration of perioperative antibiotics (1). GG is reportedly more common after penetrating trauma or major surgery and is rarely reported without obvious predisposing events, such as edema, fever, malaise, and pain. Previous documents have only reported gas gangrene once after an open rectal surgery or laparoscopic cholecystectomy (2, 3). However, the authors of the case documented in the Frontiers in Surgery report say this is the first case of GG of the pelvic wall, after laparoscopic resection for rectal cancer, occurred.

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  7. February 26, 2024

    Is RoundUp Giving You a Pain in the Gut?

    Glyphosate, a chemical used in many RoundUp® herbicides, may be to blame for the rise in cases of celiac disease and gluten intolerance. Though the proponents of glyphosate have always maintained that it has no effect on human or animal cells, an ever-increasing amount of research suggests that the herbicide may suppress healthy gastrointestinal flora, including microbes needed to properly digest gluten.

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  8. February 05, 2024

    From Zones of Inhibition to Accurate Results: Mastering the Kirby-Bauer Technique

    The purpose of the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test is to determine the in vitro susceptibility of bacteria and fungi to various antimicrobial compounds. It is a standardized test that can be performed in a laboratory setting and is a valuable tool for both clinicians and microbiologists.

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  9. January 12, 2024

    Cases of Group A Streptococcus Continue to Climb

    We began to see an increase in the number of strep throat cases in beginning in late spring of 2023, not only in pediatric patients, but adults as well. Now in December, cases of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) continue to rise. During one newscast out of the Midwest, some physicians say 2023 was the worst year for strep throat that they can remember.
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  10. January 10, 2024

    Hep C: An Anti-Viral Success Story

    Hepatitis C is the primary cause of liver cancer and the need for liver transplants among patients infected with the virus.

    Infection is often the result of coming into contact with contaminated blood, usually through injected drug use, but also

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  11. January 04, 2024

    Training Guide for NG-Test® CARBA 5

    Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales or CRE, are a group of gram-negative bacteria that are resistant to “last line” antibiotics and are very challenging to treat. These microorganisms may confer their resistance via the production of a carbapenemase, an enzyme that inactivates carbapenem antibiotics.

    The five most common types of carbapenemases are KPC, OXA-48-like, VIM, IMP, and NDM.

    Knowing the type of carbapenemase is crucial for therapeutic purposes, infection control, and for preventing outbreaks.

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  12. January 03, 2024

    Mouthwash: Helpful or Harmful?

    The Impact of Mouthwash on Human Health

    In many parts of our body, friendly bacteria assist us in regulating important physiological functions. The balance of our microbiome can help ward

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  13. December 13, 2023

    Can Stevia Affect Your Microbiome?

    As 2023 draws to a close, many people begin to think about new goals and intentions for the New Year ahead. The most common New Year’s resolution is to improve health, which often involves better food alternatives and eating healthier. One of the most popular plant-based sweetener alternatives used in the food and beverage industry is Stevia. Stevia is a no-calorie sugar substitute made from highly r

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  14. November 17, 2023

    Alarming increase in Cyclospora cases in the US

    A total of 1,957 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis have been reported in the United States so far this year.

    That is already surpassing the 1,129 cases reported in all of 2022. (1) The investigation of this outbreak is ongoing with no specific food item being identified as the source of most of these illnesses, although the outbreak count does include 20 patients in

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  15. November 01, 2023

    New Antimicrobials for Difficult-to-Treat Pathogens: Sulbactam-Durlobactam and Rezafungin

    Healthcare professionals face a constant challenge with ever-evolving bacterial and fungal infections. Multidrug-resistant pathogens threaten the efficacy of existing treatments and highlight the need for new antimicrobial therapies. These microorganisms are typically resistant to the majority of antimicrobial agents, including carbapenems, making them difficult to treat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) as an urgent public health threat.

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