Infectious Disease
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Mechanism of Persistence of Moraxella catarrhalis in Patients With COPD
Investigators examined the mechanism that allows Moraxella catarrhalis to persist in some patients with COPD.
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Early vs. Delayed Cardioversion: A Nonshocking Result
For patients presenting to an ED with recent-onset atrial fibrillation, using rate control and outpatient cardioversion only as needed was associated with a high rate of spontaneous conversion within 48 hours of arrhythmia onset and noninferior short-term outcomes compared to immediate cardioversion in the ED.
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Mind-Body Techniques May Enhance Cognitive Fitness in Older Adults
A meta-analysis regarding mind-body techniques and cognitive fitness in older adults points to enhanced cognitive performance associated with mind-body interventions in older patients, especially those without preexisting cognitive decline.
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CDC Drops Routine Annual Tuberculosis Testing of Healthcare Workers
The agency is dropping routine screening in favor of testing on hire, and after TB exposure or ongoing transmission. In updating 2005 TB guidelines, the CDC screening change was expected as the disease continues to decline nationally and healthcare workers appear to be at no greater risk of transmission than the general public.
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Surgeons’ Negative Attitudes Can Lead to Higher Infection Rates
“Surgeons who model unprofessional behaviors may help to undermine a culture of safety, threaten teamwork, and thereby increase risk for medical errors and surgical complications," according to authors of a recent study.
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Infection Prevention: The Past Is Prelude
Looking to the past and the present, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) President Karen Hoffmann, RN, MS, CIC, FSHEA, FAPIC, recently gave a keynote address in Philadelphia at the annual APIC conference. Hoffman also is an infection prevention consultant for the Survey and Certification Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a clinical instructor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
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FDA Alert: Fatal Infection Following Fecal Transplant
Multidrug-resistant organisms are infecting new patients via transplantation, putting recipients at risk of infections and threatening to spur larger hospital outbreaks. Two recently reported incidents underscore the threat, with one described in an alert by the FDA about fecal microbiota transplantation to treat Clostridioides difficile infections.
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FDA: Hospitals Could Face Shortages of Sterile Supplies
The emission of ethylene oxide from sterilization facilities into surrounding communities has raised cancer concerns, warnings, and closures that threaten the critical flow of sterile supplies in healthcare, the FDA reports. Infection preventionists should keep communication channels open with central sterile supply and other key colleagues to ensure spot shortages of equipment do not pose a threat to patient safety.
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Meeting the Challenge of Sterilizing Duodenoscopes
Infection preventionists and central sterile supply technicians must work together to protect patients from duodenoscopes that could remain contaminated after reprocessing. That is the take-home message from a comprehensive program that shows it can be done.