Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – July 1, 2008
July 1, 2008
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HHS plan for hospitals to stockpile pandemic flu antivirals draws fire
With a matching vaccine not expected to be available for at least five months if and when pandemic influenza hits, hospitals should stockpile flu antivirals to protect their health care workers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends in recently issued draft guidance. -
HHS antiviral plan: 100 million regimens in U.S. hospitals
If hospitals nationwide followed draft recommendations to stockpile flu antivirals to protect health care workers against an influenza pandemic more than 100 million antiviral regimens would be required, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). -
CDC mulled other theories in Vegas HCV outbreak
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigators considered several other theories before concluding that improper needle practices and reuse of single-dose vials of propofol likely caused a recent HCV outbreak among patients at a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic. -
Rust never sleeps: Staph eats away at vanc efficacy
The much-feared widespread emergence of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has not occurred, with true VRSA still a rare phenomenon. But perhaps the path to this milestone toward a post-antibiotic era will occur in more incremental steps. -
C. diff hospitalizations, deaths nearly double
An aging population and the emergence of a hypervirulent strain are combining to make Clostridium difficile disease a killer. Hospitalizations and deaths from C. diff-associated disease (CDAD) are on the rise in the United States. -
OSHA proposes a formula for pandemic stockpiles
For the first time, a newly proposed guidance puts a number and a cost to the respirators needed to protect health care workers during an influenza pandemic: 480 respirators at a cost of about $240 to protect a single employee, or a single reusable elastomeric respirator with three filters at a cost of $40 per employee. -
Flu and MRSA make a deadly combo
A disturbing number of cases of pneumonia caused by staph infections resulted in death among young, otherwise healthy patients during the 2006-2007 flu season, with more than three-quarters caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), researchers found.