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Emerging as the bane of cruise ships and nursing homes, norovirus with its ability to cause severe gastroenteritis, persist in the environment, and spread via contaminated food or human contact would seem to be the perfect candidate for a nosocomial pathogen of the most troublesome variety.
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Health care epidemiologists are reporting an increase in bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to the use of needleless mechanical valve devices that connect to central venous catheters.
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Based on ongoing research with the resurrected 1918 H1N1 pandemic virus, it appears that avian influenza H5N1 bird flu could rapidly adapt and spread through the human population with a few genetic changes that allow a transmission tipping point.
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If avian H5N1 influenza emerges as a pandemic strain, no currently available vaccine will be completely protective. Therefore, the thrust of the nations pandemic influenza plan is aimed at rapidly producing vaccine and stockpiling effective antivirals.
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The virulence of the 1918 pandemic strain was so extraordinary that there are accounts of people who felt well in the morning but were dead by nightfall.
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The pandemic influenza plan recently unveiled by the Department of Health and Human Services specifies four major components of preparedness and response to pandemic influenza:
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A snapshot of the infection control profession at a critical time finds ICPs drawing a median salary in the $50,000 to $59,999 range while facing down everything from looming pandemic flu to consumer demands for infection control report cards.
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Mykietiuk and colleagues report that 139 (7.2%) of 1934 prospectively evaluated adults without severe immunocompromise admitted over an approximately 8-year period to a university hospital in Barcelona because of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) had evidence of Legionella infection.
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Staphylococcus epidermidis continues to be a troublesome pathogen, mainly due to its ability to form biofilms that protect this species and allow it to express unique features that guarantee its survival. The main molecules involved in biofilm formation are under intense study.
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Intravascular, device-related bloodstream infection (IDR-BSI) are a major source of morbidity and mortality. An estimated 250,000 infections occur annually in the United States, with an attributable mortality of 12-25%.
