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Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, causing an estimated 6 million new genital infections annually.
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The Joint Commission has added a new patient safety goal for 2008 that allows hospitals to comply with hand hygiene guidelines by the World Health Organization.
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The Joint Commission's new standard requiring hospitals to offer influenza vaccine to health care workers is showing some signs of initial impact, but the first real test will be the 2007-2008 flu season.
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It's time for a new mask. Neither surgical masks nor industrial respirators were ever designed to prevent airborne occupational infections in health care workers, though that is the role they have haphazardly evolved to fill, laments Michael Bell, MD, medical epidemiologist in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of healthcare quality promotion.
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Amid the swirl of airborne threats such as pandemic flu and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), the prevailing political winds finally have shifted as well.
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The Joint Commission has proposed standards revisions that could weaken infection control programs "significantly at a time when health care associated infections (HAIs) are receiving increasing attention by legislators, payers, and consumers," the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) warns.
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While it's easy to get caught up in exotic pathogens and novel transmission routes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is re-emphasizing that standard precautions remains the bedrock of infection prevention in health care settings.