Infection Control
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Healing HCWs — Including IPs — Is a National Priority for CDC, NIOSH
Burnout among all stripes of healthcare workers — including infection preventionists — has become a dire situation warranting national action. Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have released new research and emphasized available resources to raise awareness for an ambitious “system change” in healthcare delivery.
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CDC Draft Revamps Airborne Precautions, Calls for N95s
New draft patient isolation guidelines recently approved by advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call for scrapping the “outdated dichotomy” of droplet/airborne precautions in favor of a “continuum” approach to stop transmission through the air.
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COVID-19 Vaccine, 2023-2024 Formula (Comirnaty, Spikevax)
The newest vaccines target XBB.1.5, which is no longer the dominant circulating variant, but they offer protection against XBB.1.16 and more distant variants (e.g., EG.5.1, FL.1.1.1, and BA.2.86).
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Using Doxycycline as Postexposure Prophylaxis to Prevent Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections
In an open-label, randomized study involving men who have sex with men and transgender women, using doxycycline within 72 hours of condomless sex was associated with a two-thirds reduction in the incidence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections vs. those who received standard care.
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More Reports of Severe Group A Streptococcal Infection
Around the world, rates of severe illness caused by group A Streptococcus are rising. Possible explanations for the increase include immunity-altering, post-pandemic changes in exposure to respiratory pathogens and the emergence of new pathogenic M strains of Streptococcus.
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The Degree of Pyuria Can Help Determine Urinary Tract Infection in Elderly Women
Elderly women with a urinary tract infection recorded a higher median number of urinary leukocytes compared to uninfected controls, including those with asymptomatic bacteriuria. For 264 leukocytes/µL, the sensitivity and specificity of microscopy were 88%. Using the standard pyuria threshold of 10 leukocytes/µL gave a specificity of 36% and a sensitivity of 100%.
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Comparing Sequelae After Hospitalization with COVID-19, Influenza, or Sepsis
The incidence of most selected new-onset medical conditions did not significantly differ among those who had been hospitalized with COVID-19, influenza, or sepsis.
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‘It’s Alive’: Scabies Parasite Gets Under Your Skin, in Your Head
Healthcare workers have seen and suffered seemingly everything, but there is one creature as unnerving as the ragged screech of fingernails across a chalkboard: Sarcoptes scabiei hominis.
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CDC Publishes Guide to Help Hospitals Diagnose, Treat Sepsis
The agency details seven pillars upon which leaders can build a successful program.
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U.S. Public Health Officials Warn Frontline Providers to Watch for Malaria Cases
Clinicians should raise their suspicion levels for the mosquito-borne illness when patients present with fever with an unknown etiology, even if the patients have not traveled recently to a country where malaria is endemic.