Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1495475
14 PATIENT SAFETY & OUTCOMES UTI drug shows success in fighting deadly brain-eating amoeba By Ashleigh Hollowell W hen a patient in California was diagnosed with a rare and highly fatal brain-eating amoebic infection, physicians concocted a treatment plan that included nitroxoline — the drug most commonly known for treating urinary tract infections — which ultimately led to the patient's survival. e patient, a man in his mid-50s, had no previous noteworthy medical history and received treatment at the University of California, San Francisco. "Aer one week of nitroxoline treatment, MRI showed decreased size of the cerebral abscesses and no new lesions compared with MRI before nitroxoline," researchers who treated the patient wrote. Post-discharge, the patient's lesions continued to show improvement. Now 15 months out, he regularly takes nitroxoline as well as other medications, but has been able to continue life in his community with assistance from family members. "Repurposed use of nitroxoline associated with survival from B. mandrillaris GAE demonstrates the potential of basic research to identify antiamebic agents that improve outcome of this rare and deadly disease," researchers noted. Other researchers not affiliated with the care or published findings have cited the case as "a breakthrough in treating a brain infection that's long been presumed to be a death sentence," they told Science. n 5th person cured of HIV, researchers say By Paige Twenter Another person has been cured of HIV, according to findings published Feb. 20 in Nature. e 53-year-old man in Germany stopped receiving treatment for the virus four years ago and is now cured, researchers said. He is the fih person to be cured of the virus aer a stem cell transplant, ABC News reported. HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, weakens the body by attacking white blood cells. It has infected nearly 40 million people worldwide and can lead to AIDS, which has killed millions, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. In the 2010s, the man was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and began chemotherapy. Because of his cancer, he underwent a stem cell transplant — a high-risk procedure for cancer patients who do not have many alternatives and possibly the reason his HIV infection disappeared. e researchers said the procedure is neither low-risk or "easily scalable" but has "relevance to cure strategies." Because the findings are based on one person, the study authors added that this case offers "important insights but is anecdotal by nature and lacks the power of controlled prospective studies." Others have reported their own case studies of HIV patients either naturally cured, in which a person's immune system swept away the virus, or those in "sustained remission," a case dubbed as the "London patient." "It's really [a] cure, and not just, you know, long-term remission," Dr. Björn-Erik Ole Jensen, the study's lead author, told ABC News. "is obviously positive symbol makes hope, but there's a lot of work to do." n Texas hospital completes 11-hour 'historic' surgery to separate conjoined twins By Erica Carbajal A team of 25 medical professionals at Fort Worth, Texas-based Cook Children's Medical Center performed the hospital's first separation procedure for conjoined twin sisters on Jan. 23. The 11-hour surgery required months of planning and several simulation surgeries, the hospital said in a news release. The twin sisters, AmieLynn Rose and JamieLynn Rae Finley, were born prematurely in early October at nearby Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth. After their birth, teams at both hospitals began collaborating to develop a game plan for the separation surgery. The surgical team was led by Jose Iglesias, MD, Cook Children's medical director of pediatric surgery. During the months of collaboration, Dr. Iglesias built models of the twins' anatomy and mapped out possible solutions. There were multiple simulation surgeries to prepare for different outcomes. The sisters were joined from the lower part of the breastbone to their belly button and shared a liver, meaning they are omphalopagus twins, the technical term for conjoined twins who are joined at the abdomen and share at least one internal organ. "We are very happy with their progress at this point," Dr. Iglesias said at a news conference, according to CBS News. "We are focusing on their healing. They obviously have risks for several things, but we're keeping a close eye on those." n