Infectious Disease
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Surgical Smoke State Laws: What IPs Need to Know
Rhode Island recently became the first state to require healthcare facilities to take measures to protect healthcare workers from the hazardous plume. With other states likely to follow, infection preventionists may want to revisit this issue, particularly the presence of toxic chemicals in the plume and the risk of possible infections and disease. -
Intervention Reduces Infection Threat Posed by Therapy Dogs
While most patients can enjoy the benefits of pet therapy without risk of infection, those with cancer and other immune deficiency disorders are less protected. Researchers have pilot-tested a protocol that would make this activity safe for oncology patients, with plans now to test it in larger clinical settings. -
Is Outpatient Prescribing Out of Control?
While restricting antibiotic use in hospitals has been heavily emphasized to stave off the rise of drug-resistant infections, a new study shows such efforts are conspicuously absent in outpatient settings — where 80% of these life-saving drugs are prescribed. -
One Century After the Great Pandemic of 1918
Having killed some 50 million people worldwide and disappeared in little over a year, the 1918 influenza pandemic is steeped in fear and dread in infectious disease lore. Indeed, a warning of the “return” or emergence of such a virus is often cited as the need for an improved universal flu shot and mass immunization. -
Data From Last Year’s Fatal Flu Season Show Areas of Weakness
In breaking down the numbers of the deadly 2017-2018 flu season, a jarring juxtaposition emerges. While about 90% of the record 80,000 deaths were in people over age 65, staff in long-term facilities had the lowest vaccination rate among any healthcare group. -
Infectious Disease Alert Updates
Tuberculosis Transmission From NAAT-negative Patients; Worldwide Rabies Risk: Dogs; Patients Need to Rethink the ‘Quality’ in Healthcare
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Plazomicin (Zemdri)
Plazomicin is an aminoglycoside recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating complicated urinary tract infections.
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Here Comes the Sun — And Here Comes Coccidioidomycosis
Another occupational outbreak of coccidioidomycosis in solar farm workers in an endemic area points to the continued risk and the difficulty of preventing such occurrences.
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In Patients Who Self-catheterize, Antibiotic Prophylaxis Prevents UTIs but Increases Antibiotic Resistance
A randomized, open-label, superiority trial found that daily antibiotic prophylaxis for patients who use clean, intermittent self-catheterization reduced symptomatic urinary tract infections by 48% over a 12-month period. Antibiotic resistance became prevalent in urinary isolates from the group receiving prophylaxis compared to controls.
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Childhood Diarrhea Varies Geographically Within Africa
Each year, 30 million preschool-aged children still get sick with diarrhea and 330,000 die. Most diarrheal illness and death is concentrated in a few high-risk areas, including parts of Benin, Lesotho, Mali, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Targeting preventive and therapeutic interventions in areas of risk could markedly reduce morbidity and mortality.