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This large propensity-matched retrospective study of over 300,000 hospitalized patients should put to rest the long-standing reluctance to give IV iron during acute infection. Across MRSA bacteremia, pneumonia, UTI, colitis, and cellulitis, IV iron was associated with significantly better 14- and 90-day survival, improved hemoglobin recovery, and fewer transfusion days, with no increase in length of stay. The survival benefit was consistent and appeared early. Retrospective design with all the usual caveats, but the signal is clear and consistent across every infection type studied. If your patient has iron deficiency anemia and an acute infection, the data increasingly say treat it rather than wait.

A single-group, phase 1–2 study indicated that eltrombopag improved the efficacy of standard immunosuppressive therapy that entailed horse antithymocyte globulin (ATG) plus cyclosporine in patients with severe aplastic anemia.