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Infection preventionists who want to keep their programs in compliance should be well aware that when emergency responders transport an incoming patient who is later found to have a potentially life-threatening disease, they need to receive prompt notification from the hospital about the exposure risk.
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A recent federal report that included the highly publicized finding that some 15,000 Medicare patients die every month due to adverse events and hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) may ratchet up pressure on hospitals to prevent infections, which represented some 15% of the HACs.
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Group B streptococcal (GBS) disease is the leading cause of early-onset neonatal sepsis (within the first week of life) in the United States. Since the initial recommendations for perinatal prophylaxis in the 1990s, the incidence of GBS has declined by 80%.
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The national epidemic of Clostridium difficile is moving into the pediatric population, causing infections in children that prolong hospitalizations, increase morbidity and spell a striking increase in the risk of death.
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When it comes to MRSA infection control in the chaotic emergency department (ED), enhanced attention to standard precautions and hand hygiene is a more cost-effective approach than active screening cultures, researchers report.
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More health care workers responded to this season's push for influenza vaccination by rolling up their sleeves and getting the vaccine.
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In the H1N1 influenza A pandemic, many infected health care workers failed to wear personal protective equipment. They became sick after caring for infected patients. In addition, they were infected after socializing with co-workers who came to work sick.
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Two cases were reported in this paper. the first case was a 52-year-old wildlife biologist who went deer hunting in Virginia in November 2008.
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As reported here in 2003, the World Bank began funding a project to train giant pouched Gambian rats to sniff out tuberculosis (TB) in sputum specimens in sub-Saharan Africa. Rats have been successfully trained to target landmines, and using a similar training/reward technique, pilot data suggested that rats could be trained to detect TB in respiratory specimens.
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In this issue: Statins and liver function; dosing timing for thyroxine; rivaroxaban for VTE, DVT, and stroke; echinacea and the common cold; and FDA actions.
