News stories have extensively covered the possibility of a vaccine that could offer “new hope in the war on meningitis”. The Daily Mail said that the “first vaccine against deadly meningitis B will be available within months”, and The Independent said that the vaccine will offer “80% protection against the main causes of meningitis”. The news stories come in response to a series of articles on vaccines published in the medical journal The Lancet. The articles discussed the likely developments in vaccine biology and discovery expected over the coming years. The series follows a pledge from the charitable Gates Foundation in 2010 that called for a new “decade of vaccines” to help protect the vulnerable against disease and suffering. The foundation estimates that if vaccine co...

Abstract: Background: Previous aztreonam for inhalation solution (AZLI) studies included patients with cystic fibrosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) airway infection, and forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV1) 25% to 75% predicted. This double-blind, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial enrolled patients (≥6years) with FEV1>75% predicted.Methods: AZLI 75mg (n=76) or placebo (n=81) was administered 3-times daily for 28days with a 14-day follow-up.Results: Day 28 treatment effects were 1.8points for CFQ-R-Respiratory Symptoms Scale (95%CI: −2.8, 6.4; p=0.443; primary endpoint); −1.2 for log10 sputum PA colony-forming units (p=0.016; favoring AZLI), and 2.7% for relative FEV1% predicted (p=0.021; favoring AZLI). Treatment effects favoring AZLI were larger for patients with ba...

Abstract: Non-immediate hypersensitivity reactions to antibiotics in patients with CF represent a real-life challenge for clinicians. Desensitization is often performed in patients who have exhausted all therapeutic options. Whilst desensitization is an established procedure for immediate reactions we assessed the outcomes and safety of desensitization for non-immediate reactions.We retrospectively reviewed 275 desensitization procedures in 42 patients with a range of non-immediate reactions to six commonly used antibiotics. Desensitization was performed using a 7-step rapid intravenous protocol on a normal medical ward.250 (91%) of overall desensitization procedures were successful; however, this figure incorporates certain individuals having multiple successful procedures. Individual pat...

The ability to predict and prevent future exacerbations has been a consistent focus of asthma research. Although some progress has been made on identifying factors associated with an increased risk of exacerbation at the population and individual levels, no measure or instrument is available for widespread use in the asthma community.