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Health care workers who care for infants younger than 12 months old should be the first in line to receive the new pertussis vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.
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Synopsis: Extensive processing and prolonged incubation of blood cultures in patients with fever of unknown origin or of endocarditis were not effective in the detection of etiologic pathogens.
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Investigators have confirmed the first outbreak of invasive infection caused by Aspergillus ustus. The mold rarely infects humans, as only 15 systemic cases have been reported among hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. In the outbreak, six patients with infections were identified. Three infections each occurred in both 2001 and 2003.
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Petussis outbreaks among health care workers are of special concern because of the risk for transmission to vulnerable patients. Last year, the CDC detailed pertussis outbreaks among health care workers and patients that included hospital outbreaks in Pennsylvania and Oregon.1 The outbreaks, which occurred before the availability of the new pertussis vaccine, are summarized below to underscore the disruptive nature of nosocomial pertussis outbreaks.
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Hardier and more virulent than traditional nosocomial strains, community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) now appears to be laying claim to the hospital.
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Infection control professionals adopting policies requiring workers to sign declination statements if they forgo influenza vaccination can expect to run into a persistent group of refuseniks with varied reasons for their recalcitrance.
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A proposed infection rate disclosure law in Connecticut focuses mistakenly on counting infections, rather than holding hospitals accountable for implementing strategies to prevent them, a representative of the state hospital association recently testified.
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