Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – February 1, 2018
February 1, 2018
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Severe Flu Season a Call to Action for Infection Preventionists
With public health officials giving clinicians essentially a standing order to administer antivirals to high-risk patients with influenza due to a vaccine mismatch, infection preventionists are stepping up to play critical roles in response to a severe flu season.
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CDC: At-Risk Flu Patients Should Receive Antivirals
Neuraminidase inhibitor (NAI) antiviral medications should be brought to bear early and often to stave off severe and fatal flu infections due to a vaccine mismatch this season, the CDC recommends.
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Zika Virus: Not Gone, Certainly Not Forgotten
A mosquito bite, typically a mere nuisance, becomes something else entirely when the mosquito carries Zika. It sets off a series of risks and variables that reach their most dire consequence if the virus reaches a human fetus, particularly during the first trimester of pregnancy. -
Changing Human Behavior on Antibiotic Stewardship
Infection preventionists are turning to social scientists to better understand why it is so difficult to get people to consistently wash their hands or, in a more recent example, stop them from overprescribing drugs or inappropriately using broad-spectrum antibiotics that will select out resistant organisms.
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NIH Approves Research to Enhance Pandemic Pathogens
“Gain-of-function” research designed to make pathogens deadlier in order to develop treatments and countermeasures has been given a green light by the National Institutes of Health.
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Pediatricians Call for Mandated Flu Shots for Clinic Staff
Joining the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and many other professional organizations, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued new guidelines for outpatient clinics that call for mandatory flu vaccination of healthcare staff.
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CDC: No Ban on Politically Charged Words
Infection preventiontists may have been understandably concerned and somewhat confused about a recently reported “word ban” at the CDC that apparently had more to do with politics than clinical science.