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Are Stethoscopes a Vector for Transmission to Patients?

An iconic symbol of medicine, the stethoscope can serve as a fomite to transmit pathogens from patient to patient if infection control procedures are not followed, researchers report.

Improving Infection Prevention by Reforming IT, Electronic Health Records

The challenge to improve the functionality and ease of appropriate use of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information technology (IT) was recently outlined in a draft document by the Department of Health and Human Services. In submitted comments on the draft, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology outlined some of the challenges IPs face in dealing with EHRs and IT.

Study Finds Only 12.8% of Outpatient Antibiotics Appropriate

While hospitals are trying to rein in antibiotic use, outpatient settings are on the frontier of sorts in the effort to stop the rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria and their possible consequence: untreatable infections.

NIH Super Sleuths Track Down a Rare Human Pathogen

An outbreak of a rare human pathogen — which was traced to the stagnant water in a newly constructed building a decade earlier — was solved by investigators at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center using a deep bank of isolates and cutting-edge molecular epidemiology.

U.S. Caregiver Received Experimental Ebola Vaccine Post Exposure

An American caregiver exposed to the Ebola virus while caring for a patient in Africa was given the new experimental vaccine within 24 hours and subsequently did not develop infection. As is often the case with diseases calling for post-exposure prophylaxis, it cannot be determined whether the vaccine prevented infection or whether the patient would not have developed Ebola regardless.

CDC Analysis Supports Mandated Drug Stewardship in Hospitals

A new analysis of the immense societal costs of Clostridioides difficile infection may spur the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to finalize a regulation requiring antibiotic stewardship in hospitals.