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Antimicrobial stewardship programs specifically targeting Clostridium difficile infections offer a promising path to protect patients from this enteric scourge, but may have little effect unless a broad range of other infection control measures are also put in place, researchers are finding.
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It seems an understatement to say healthcare and the public at large, has had a few unknown infection scares in recent years.
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A recently reported case of hepatitis B virus transmission from a chronically infected surgeon to as many as eight patients underscores the need for providers to know their HBV status and seek the counsel of an expert review panel if they perform invasive or so called exposure-prone procedures, public health officials emphasize.
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The toughest flu vaccine mandate in the country faces a legal challenge from the nations largest union representing health care workers.
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Some foreign-born medical and dental students with chronic hepatitis B virus are being subjected to Draconian policies or rejected from schools and institutions, though in most cases they can be managed with very little threat to patient safety, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for chronically HBV-infected health-care providers and students include the following key measures:
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Patti Grant, RN, BSN, MS, CIC, director of Infection Prevention and Quality at Methodist Hospital for Surgery in Addison, TX, has been elected the 2013 president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
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Past research has linked contact precautions with adverse health events like patients developing delirium, increased risk of falls, or pressure ulcers.
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A recently published study by investigators led by Clostridium difficile expert Dale Gerding, MD, found that soap and water hand washing widely recommended to remove the spore-forming pathogen is surprisingly ineffective.
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Dr. Baron is a stockholder for Cepheid, and Immunogenetics, is Director of Medical Affairs for Cepheid, and is on the Scientific Advisory Board for OpGen, Immunogenetics, and NanoMR. She is co-founder of the Diagnostic Microbiology Development Program (www.dmdp.org), a non-profit organization that does laboratory capacity building in the developing world.
