The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created an on-line hepatitis risk assessment to help people determine whether they should be tested. The “5 minute Hepatitis Risk Assessment” is part of the CDC’s effort to get people tested, particularly…
Investigation of a cluster of cases of a novel cornavirus has confirmed that the emerging infection can be transmitted between humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Sixteen of the 27 confirmed cases have died, a fatality rate of 59%. In…
In light of the Tulsa dental debacle and ensuing patient questions and concerns, Noel Brandon Kelsch, RDHAP, of Moor Park CA, a registered dental hygienist in alternative practice and past president of the California Dental Hygienists’ Association, recommends the following…
As novel influenza A virus (H7N9) continues to emerge in China there is a cluster suggesting human-to-human transmission may have occurred, an epidemiologist at the World Health Organization reports. “We had one confirmation in the very sad case of the…
At a recent meeting on that problematic nasty pathogen Clostridium difficile, the dramatic reductions of C. diff infections by hospitals in the United Kingdom cast something of a pall over the proceedings. While U.S. epidemiologists pointed to slides to take…
Relatively uncommon in the United States before 2000, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) continue a dramatic increase in health care settings, moving across the health care continuum and causing infections that are difficult to treat and have high mortality, the Centers for…
Patients who tested positive for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) took an average of 387 days following hospital discharge clear of the organism, according to a new study published in the current issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of…
While generally citing continued reductions in key health care associated infections (HAIs), a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance report also revealed some outliers with high infection rates. The report looked at data submitted to the National Healthcare…
Hospitals in the U.S. continue to make progress in the fight against central line-associated bloodstream infections and some surgical site infections, but struggled to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) between 2010 and 2011, according to a new report issued by the…
Dramatic progress in reducing several major health care associated infections (HAIs) in recent years has been offset by the unrelenting rise of Clostridium difficile, the spore-forming pathogen that can cling steadfast to hands even after washing. While, there hopeful signs…