Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – December 1, 2014
December 1, 2014
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Ebola in America: Reign of fear ending, will science prevail?
A U.S. Ebola outbreak characterized more by fear than science marked by distrust, rumor and false assumptions may yet yield something positive: A rededication to basic infection control practices in the nations hospitals and increased support for infection prevention programs and public health.Ebola: Triumph of fear echoes early days of AIDS
After the index case of Ebola in the U.S. died and two nurses who treated him in a Dallas hospital became infected, there was an outbreak of irrationality that spread as rapidly as any epidemic.APIC: Ebola response may leave patients vulnerable to more common infections
While infection preventionists in the nations hospitals are diverting time and resources to Ebola preparedness there is a real risk that a host of other infections from Clostridium difficile to MRSA will increase and claim many more American lives than the highly publicized virus out of West Africa.CDC adds respirators, clarifies confusing issue of droplet, aerosol and airborne transmission
An issue that has caused considerable confusion and fear during the Ebola outbreak is the difference between airborne, aerosol and droplet transmission. There are clear differences, but they werent elucidated particularly well at the onset of Ebola cases in the U.S., leaving the public uninformed and then panicked when some reputable scientists warned that there was a small chance the Ebola virus could mutate and spread like a truly airborne pathogen such as measles.Not just hospitals — public health underfunded, ill equipped to face Ebola, future pandemics
While it has been duly noted that many hospitals lack the surge capacity and training to deal with an Ebola patient, the public health system is also ill prepared for emerging infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics, an expert in the field warns.PPE supplies for Ebola in high demand, CDC bolsters strategic national stockpile
With sincere apologies to the ghost of Winston Churchill, never in the field of infection prevention was so much purchased by so many to be worn by so few.