Hospital Infection Control & Prevention
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Next Pandemic: IPs, Drug Stewards Have Key Roles
Infection preventionists and antibiotic stewards struggled mightily during the height of the pandemic, largely overwhelmed like the rest of the healthcare system. No doubt they prevented some of the impact, but it was a losing effort and those results spoke to their importance as much as any success.
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Vaccination Can Prevent or Lessen Long COVID
Could long COVID — a horrific condition anyone would want to avoid — shake people out of the malaise of vaccine apathy, if not outright distrust? Evidence is accumulating that receiving the COVID-19 vaccination before being initially infected with SARS-CoV-2 can significantly reduce the risk of long COVID in children and adults.
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COVID Resurges Amid Pandemic Fatigue, Anemic Vaccine Uptake
As more hospitals nationally go to universal masking for patient care, we see the other side of an incoming problem: Only 19% of adults older than 18 years of age have received the latest vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Double Trouble: Vaccines Lag, Virulent Mpox Clade 1 Spreads
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released two health advisory alerts only a week apart, one dealing with the “urgent need” to vaccinate people for seasonal respiratory viruses; the second warning that a virulent type of mpox (monkeypox) virus is spreading in Africa.
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The IP Role in Sepsis
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued core elements for hospital sepsis programs, calling for a multidisciplinary team to prevent, detect, and treat these life-threatening systemic breakdowns.
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MRSA: Isolation and Contact Precautions Still Needed?
The authors of a new study question the merits of isolation and contact precautions for patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
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Pandemic Raises Spectre of Bioterror
The three-year viral storm of COVID-19 circling the globe and killing millions of people has left a lingering question: Has the wholesale disruption and devastation of SARS-CoV-2 made biological pathogens a more compelling and/or attainable goal by bioterrorists?
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The Seeker: Infection Control Doctor Takes the Road Less Traveled
Meet Leighann Parkes, MD, FRCPC, medical officer for infection prevention and control at McGill University in Montreal, who took a decidedly circuitous route to understanding and preventing infections.
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Comeback: IPs Rally to Cut Infections Post-Pandemic
Infection preventionists and colleagues struggled against a global pandemic for more than two years in apparent futility, watching healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) increase despite their best efforts. Their perseverance paid off. HAIs fell in 2022 and signs look favorable thus far for 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
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APIC, SHEA Say Mandate COVID Shots for HCWs
Although the federal requirement that healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 has been lifted, a statement signed by the nation’s leading infection control groups and various other associations emphasizes the importance of mandatory vaccination by individual hospitals.