While hospital ICUs have made significant strides in reducing central line associated blood stream infections, hemodialysis settings remain a dangerous area for patient care. Some 37,000 bloodstream infections occur each year among dialysis patients with central lines, posing a risk…
An “antibacterial envelope” product used with implantable heart devices reduced major infection rates by more than 90%, researchers and the product manufacturers report. It’s always advisable to infuse a bit of skepticism in reviewing claims and study findings by medical corporations,…
Employee health and infection control professionals have made a lot of progress in reducing the risk of needlesticks that could lead to infections with bloodborne viruses like HCV. However, the problem is still beset by a “gap in knowledge,” says…
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…
The index case of hepatitis C virus (HCV) that triggered a massive testing effort of patients in a Tulsa, OK dental practice rife with infection control failings appears to be the first documented case of HCV infection via cross-transmission between…
Copper’s inherent antimicrobial properties could play an increasingly important role in reducing hospital infections, researchers are finding. Placement of copper objects in intensive care unit hospital rooms reduced the number of health care associated infections (HAIs) in patients by more…
Though inspiring endless bad puns like ‘poopsickle’ and “rePOOPulating the gut,” fecal transplants are nevertheless showing considerable promise for treating the enteric scourge of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs). The form of this unique therapeutic approach ranges from pooled donor feces…
Hundreds of former patients of oral surgeon W. Scott Harrington, DDS, lined to be tested for hepatitis and HIV in Tulsa, OK this weekend as public health investigators continue to investigate infection control lapses in his practice. Health officials said Thursday that…
Baltimore: Despite increasing infection prevention efforts, Clostridium difficile remains a persistent threat to patient safety in the nation’s hospitals, according to a survey released today by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). The APIC survey found that 70% of infection…