Hospital Infection Control & Prevention
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A Shot in the Dark: FDA Adding Omicron to New Fall Vaccine
With the Omicron BA.5 subvariant currently the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States, vaccine experts have decided to add some component of the rapidly mutating virus to a new bivalent booster that will be rolled out this fall.
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An Epic Battle: SARS-CoV-2 vs. the Human Immune System
Penny Moore, PhD, an HIV researcher for about two decades, has redeployed much of her research to measure humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination.
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WHO Cooperative Treaty for Next Pandemic Begins in Controversy
The World Health Organization is continuing discussions of an international treaty or framework for global cooperation during the next pandemic, but the effort may struggle to gain traction in a divided, highly politicized environment currently holding sway in the United States.
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Monkeypox Countermeasures Include Vaccines, PEP, and Antiviral Treatment
Although monkeypox cases are expected to increase as a result of the national call to clinicians to identify cases, the United States has no surfeit of medical countermeasures. These include two vaccines, a vaccinia immune globulin intravenous product, an antiviral drug, and large testing capacity.
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Special Report: Monkeypox Spread to 29 Non-Endemic Nations Unprecedented
The near-simultaneous emergence of monkeypox in the United States, Europe, and other regions where it rarely is seen has raised questions whether the virus could become endemic beyond West and Central Africa, where outbreaks are more common.
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Is a Healthcare Infection a Medical Error? Nurse Conviction Roils Patient Safety
Over the last two decades, there has been a tectonic shift of the perception that healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) were an inevitable consequence of invasive care to the radical notion that most infections actually are preventable. This has raised the question, at least in some cases, of whether failure to prevent an HAI is indeed a medical error. This discussion no longer is academic.
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Unexplained Pediatric Hepatitis Cases Detected Globally
As of May 5, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was investigating 109 children with hepatitis of unknown origin across 25 states and territories. More than half of them have tested positive for adenovirus.
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Joint Commission Surveys in the Time of COVID-19
How far is The Joint Commission behind on healthcare accreditation surveys? By the end of June 2022, they expect to be caught up with scheduled inspections — for 2021. However, the accrediting body for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is gamely moving forward, using virtual technology for some facilities, and conducting on-site inspections at hospitals.
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Bad to the Bone: Huge TB Outbreak Traced to One Donor
A massive Mycobacterium tuberculosis outbreak spread to 81 bone tissue recipients in 20 states, leading to multiple patient deaths and 73 latent infections in healthcare workers, investigators with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.
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OSHA Urged to Break with CDC in Finalizing COVID-19 Regulation
Despite pleas for flexibility by infection control groups, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is being urged by one of its more prominent former directors to adopt a tough standard that emphasizes airborne precautions to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19.