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Though Chicago is roughly 1,700 miles from Mexico City the epicenter of the H1N1 influenza A outbreak it didn't take long for the virus to get there when warnings of a possible pandemic began coming out.
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As it became clear to many public health departments and infection preventionists that H1N1 influenza was acting more like a seasonal influenza virus than a pandemic strain, many broke with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and downgraded infection control measures accordingly.
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Health care workers or public health workers who were not using appropriate personal protective equipment during close contact with an ill confirmed, probable, or suspect case of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection during the case's infectious period are indicated for post-exposure antiviral chemoprophylaxis with either oseltamivir or zanamivir, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.
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Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are clearly on the radar of Kathleen Sebelius, the new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She recently called for action to prevent HAIs in praising two new HHS reports on the quality of health care in America.
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The Joint Commission has issued a major new document on the difficult issue of assessing hand hygiene compliance by health care workers.
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It is important to investigate the reasons for nonadherence to hand hygiene guidelines before deciding on one or more improvement strategies, according to a new report by The Joint Commission and its partners. It also is useful to examine the organizational context of health care delivery, which may facilitate or inhibit adherence.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to prevent infection with carbapenem-resistant Wnterobacteri-aceae (CRE) in general and carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) in particular include the following recommendations:
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Findings from the first in-depth study of patient sharing show that hospitals share large numbers of patients with other acute care facilities without knowing it. The findings do not bode well for containing emerging organisms like carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae because they suggest that once a pathogen enters a region, it may soon be shared among many area hospitals.
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Epidemiologists and computer scientists at the University of Iowa have collaborated to create a wireless electronic badge that monitors hand hygiene compliance. The study was unveiled recently in San Diego at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
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A rigorous environmental cleaning intervention can reduce the transmission of methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) and other multidrug-resistant organisms in hospital intensive care units (ICUs), according to research presented recently in San Diego at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
