Infectious Diseases


Aetna Expands Ohio Network

The network includes 289 hospitals and 33,530 primary care and specialist physicians to serve about 1.1 million Aetna members in the state.

Tick-Borne Parasite Infecting Blood Supply, CDC Says

In the report, CDC and collaborators describe 159 transfusion–related babesiosis cases that occurred during 1979-2009, most (77 percent) from 2000 to 2009.

MRSA Sending More Kids to Hospitals: Study

The number of children hospitalized for skin and soft-tissue infections, mostly due to community-acquired MRSA, has more than doubled since 2000.

Hospital Uniforms Harbor Harmful Bacteria, Study Says

Researchers found that exactly half of all the cultures taken, representing 65 percent of RN uniforms and 60 percent of MD uniforms, harbored pathogens.

Crafting the New Guidelines

Committee members are hard at work on the 2014 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities.

UN Agency Issues New Avian Flu Warning

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said the most recent H5N1 death occurred earlier this month in Cambodia, which has registered eight cases of human infection this year. All were fatal.

HIDA Webinar Readies Members for Coming Flu Season

The Health Industry Distributors Association's "Preparing Your Customers for the Coming Flu Season" one-hour webinar begins at 2 p.m. EST Aug. 25 and will feature Litjen (L.J.) Tan, MS, Ph.D., director of medicine and public health for the American Medical Association.

Workshop Announced on Next-Generation Smallpox Vaccines

The public workshop will take place Sept. 16 in Gaithersburg, Md., and seek to identify key issues in the development and evaluations of these vaccines.



NIOSH List Highlights Safe Handling of Hazardous Drugs

When hazardous drugs must be prepared and administered, there are workplace best practices that can minimize potentially harmful exposure. These include the use of engineering controls and personal protective equipment.

Study Tracks U.S. Military Members' Malaria Rates

Malaria rates among members of the U.S. military who were born in western Africa were 44 times higher during 2002-2010 than rates for members who were born in the United States, authors of a paper being published in the September issue of CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal report.

Hand Hygiene Knowledge Cuts Risk of Transmitting Infection, Study Says

The study found that health care workers perceived surfaces as safer to touch than patient skin, in spite of research that has proven touching one contaminated surface can spread bacteria to up to the next seven surfaces touched.

New Bacterium Causing Tick-Borne Illness Found in Wisconsin, Minnesota

The new bacterium, not yet named, has been identified in more than 25 people and found in black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks, in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Major Funding Committed to Australian Public Hospitals

The national health reform plan announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon will deliver an extra $175 billion to public hospitals through 2030.

Climate Change Growing Threat to Health

About half of the states are at risk of dengue fever outbreaks, the analysis of CDC and National Climatic Data Center data indicates.

WHO Warns Against Use of TB Blood Tests

More than a million of these inaccurate blood tests are carried out annually to diagnose active TB, often at great financial cost to patients.

FDA, Federal Partners Develop Tools for Food-Emergency Readiness

The tools are designed to help food and agriculture stakeholders and emergency preparedness planners collaborate better with each other, neighboring jurisdictions, the food industry, and federal agencies during food emergencies.

FDA Approves Vaccines for 2011-2012 Flu Season

The vaccine formulation protects against the three virus strains that surveillance indicates will be most common during the upcoming season and includes the same virus strains used for the 2010-2011 influenza season.

Combination of Viruses Could Create New Flu Strain: Study

In their current study, the researchers looked at the compatibility of the 2009 pandemic pH1N1 virus—which has some genetic characteristics that may allow it to reassort more easily than other influenza viruses—with an influenza strain known as H9N2.

CDC Releases Infection Prevention Guide to Promote Safe Outpatient Care

The guide states that all outpatient practices should ensure that at least one individual with specific training in infection control is on staff or regularly available. This individual should be involved in developing a written infection control policy and have regular communication with health care providers to address specific issues or concerns.

Study: Laundered Shop Towels May Be Contaminating Workers

“Without knowing it, manufacturing workers may be ingesting certain heavy metals at elevated levels from this unexpected source," said Barbara Beck, Ph.D., DABT, principal at Gradient, the firm that conducted the research. "For some of these metals, the amounts ingested may be greater than allowed in drinking water on a daily basis."

Featured

Artificial Intelligence

Webinars