The state public health and clinical collaboratives that rapidly identified a national outbreak of meningitis with an unusual fungal etiology remain at the mercy of a foe that may prove equally unforgiving: the bean counter. It can be frustratingly hard…
Those who saw the recent film Contagion – which was actually fairly accurate compared with cinema’s typical delvings into infectious disease – may recall the chaotic portrayal of mass scenes of quarantine. Long lines of traffic, military checkpoints, separated families…
With the new Sydney strain of norovirus causing an increase in outbreaks in health care settings, infection control measures are critical to prevent transmission in hospitals and nursing homes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following basic…
Health-care providers and public health practitioners should be vigilant for possible increased norovirus activity in the ongoing season due to an emerging new “Sydney” strain of the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Noroviruses are the leading…
Recent U.S. Senate hearings on the national meningitis outbreak predictably found plenty of blame to go around, but also underscored the wisdom of investing in public health and clinical partnerships. “These pre-existing relationships allowed us to respond quickly because we…
The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 at 10:00 AM on a national meningitis outbreak that has led to 438 infections and 32 deaths in 19 states. A link to…
An alert medical epidemiologist ultimately lost the patient she was trying to save, but there is little doubt she prevented other deaths by sounding the first alarm on a multistate meningitis outbreak that continues to unfold. April Pettit, MD, an…
With some 13,000 people in 23 states possibly injected with a fungal-contaminated steriod product, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines for physicians treating patients who face the rare but real risk of developing meningitis. In addition, two general fungal types…
An unusual meningitis outbreak of apparent fungal etiology has been linked to 91 patients in nine states, causing seven fatal infections due to a contaminated epidural steroid solution that has been recalled, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports….
The World Health Organization has issued the following revised interim case definition for a novel coronavirus that recently emerged in at least two cases linked to the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East: The WHO emphasized that this information was developed…