Effectiveness of Fosfomycin for the Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Bacteremic Urinary Tract Infections

IMPORTANCE The consumption of broad-spectrum drugs has increased as a consequence of the spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli. Finding alternatives for these infections is critical, for which some neglected drugs may be an option. OBJECTIVE To determine whether fosfomycin is noninferior to ceftriaxone or meropenem in the targeted treatment of bacteremic urinary tract infections (bUTIs) due to MDR E coli. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This multicenter, randomized, pragmatic, open clinical trial was conducted at 22 Spanish hospitals from June 2014 to December 2018. Eligible participants were adult patients with bacteremic urinary tract infections due to MDR E coli; 161 of 1578 screened patients were randomized and followed up for 60 days. Data were analyzed in May 2021. INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized 1 to 1 to receive intravenous fosfomycin disodium at 4 g every 6 hours (70 participants) or a comparator (ceftriaxone or meropenem if resistant; 73 participants) with the option to switch to oral fosfomycin trometamol for the fosfomycin group or an active oral drug or pa renteral ertapenem for the comparator group after 4 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was clinical and microbiological cure (CMC) 5 to 7 days after finalization of treatment; a noninferiority margin of 7% was considered. RESULTS Among 143 patients in the modified intention-to-treat population (median [IQR] age, 72 [62-81] years; 73 [51.0%] women), 48 of 70 patients (68.6%) treated with fosfomycin and 57 of 73 patients (78.1%) treated with comparators reached CMC (risk difference, -9.4 percentage points; 1-sided 95% CI, -21.5 to infinity percentage points; P = .10). While clinical or microbiological failure occurred among 10 patients (14.3%) treated with fosfomycin and 14 patients (19.7%) treated with comparators (risk difference, -5.4 percentage points; 1-sided 95% CI. -infinity to 4.9; percentage points; P = .19), an increased rate of adverse event-related discontinuations occurred with fosfomycin vs comparators (6 discontinuations [8.5%] vs 0 discontinuations; P = .006). In an exploratory analysis among a subset of 38 patients who underwent rectal colonization studies, patients treated with fosfomycin acquired a new ceftriaxone-resistant or meropenem-resistant gram-negative bacteria at a decreased rate compared with patients treated with comparators (0 of 21 patients vs 4 of 17 patients [23.5%]; 1-sided P = .01). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This study found that fosfomycin did not demonstrate noninferiority to comparators as targeted treatment of bUTI from MDR E coli; this was due to an increased rate of adverse event-related discontinuations. This finding suggests that fosfomycin may be considered for selected patients with these infections

A Genome-Wide Association Study on Liver Stiffness Changes during Hepatitis C Virus Infection Cure

Liver stiffness (LS) at sustained virological response (SVR) after direct-acting antivirals (DAA)-based therapy is a predictor of liver events in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients. The study aim was to identify genetic factors associated with LS changes from the moment of starting anti-HCV therapy to SVR. This prospective study included HCV-infected patients from the GEHEP-011 cohort who achieved SVR with DAA-based therapy, with LS pre-treatment ≥ 9.5 kPa and LS measurement available at SVR. Plink and Magma software were used to carry out genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based and gene-based association analyses, respectively. The ShinyGO application was used for exploring enrichment in Gene Ontology (GO) categories for biological processes. Overall, 242 patients were included. Median (quartile 1, quartile 3) LS values at pre-treatment and at SVR were 16.8 (12, 28) kPa and 12.0 (8.5, 19.3) kPa, respectively. Thirty-five SNPs and three genes reached suggestive association with LS changes from the moment of starting anti-HCV therapy to SVR. GO categories related to DNA packaging complex, DNA conformation change, chromosome organization and chromatin organization were significantly enriched. Our study reports possible genetic factors associated with LS changes during HCV-infection cure. In addition, our results suggest that processes related to DNA conformation are also involved in these changes.This work was supported by a grant from the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de An dalucía (project PI-0001/2017), and partially founded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Projects PI16/01443 and PI19/01312), integrated in the national I+D+i 2013–2016, 2016–2019, and co-funded by the European Union (ERDF/ESF, “Investing in your future”), by the Spanish Network for AIDS investigation (RIS) (www.red.es/redes/inicio (accessed on 1 January 2021)) (RD16/0025/0040), as a part of the Nacional I+ D+I, ISCIII Subdirección General de Evaluación and the European Fund for Development of Regions (FEDER) and by GEHEP-SEIMC (GEHEP-011 project). J.A.P. has received a research extension grant from the Programa de Intensificación de la Actividad de Investigación del Servicio Nacional de Salud Carlos III (I3SNS). A.C.-G. has received a Río Hortega grant from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant number CM19/00251). A.G.-S. is the recipient of a Miguel Servet Research Contract by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CP18/00146). I.R. is the recipient of a P-FIS Research Contract by Instituto de Salud Carlos IIII (FI20/00215). A.Ruiz. is supported by national grants PI13/02434, PI16/01861 and PI19/01301. Acción Estratégica en Salud is integrated into the Spanish National R + D + I Plan and funded by ISCIII (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), Subdirección General de Evaluación and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER “Una manera de Hacer Europa”) and received support from the European Union/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Ini tiative Joint Undertaking ADAPTED and MOPEAD projects (Grants No. 115975 and 115985) and PREADAPT project (JPco-fuND-2. Grant number AC19/00097).Ye