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Though the health care continuum is currently under siege by a host of emerging gram negatives like CRE, at one time a much-feared single pathogen was thought to herald the arrival of the post-antibiotic era: Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA).
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Increasingly common across the health care landscape, construction and renovation can make patient safety challenging. The need to expand facilities or upgrade existing space creates dust and particles that can easily become aerosolized, potentially transporting infectious Aspergillus and other fungal and bacterial organisms toward vulnerable patient populations.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) controversial plan to survey the nation's hospital infection control programs is drawing fire for both going beyond its regulatory authority in some areas and not mandating more specific infection prevention resources in others.
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Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) rates have dropped significantly in a level II adult neuro/trauma unit at Essentia Health System in Duluth, MN, largely as a result of the unit following this six-step intervention:
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The adult neuro/trauma unit at Essentia Health System of Duluth, MN, targeted ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) for an intervention several years ago and it's a gift that keeps on giving.
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In this issue: Azithromycin and cardiac risk; warfarin and heart failure; aspirin and VTE; effectiveness of long-acting contraceptives; and FDA actions.
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HIV Risk Triplesin Women with an STD
Mlisana K, et al. Symptomatic vaginal discharge is a poor predictor of sexually transmitted infections and genital tract inflammation in high-risk women in South Africa. J Infect Dis 2012;206:6-14.
Classical sexually transmitted diseases drive the spread of HIV-1: Back to the future. J Infect Dis 2012;206:1-2.
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Jain and colleagues at the U.S. CDC evaluated the characteristics of 195 hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza influenza A pdm09 (pH1N1) infection who had pneumonia, comparing them to hospitalized flu patients without pneumonia.
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In addition to increasing the risk of acquiring swine flu, kissing pigs could now be associated with another serious disease. Streptococcus suis meningitis is considered an emerging infectious disease, although cases of systemic infection have been described since 1954 in veterinarians.