Infection Control Today Magazine - healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), hospital infections, infection prevention and control, healthcare epidemiology, aseptic technique, environmental hygiene, hand hygiene, disinfection and sterilization, outbreak investigation, surveillance

FEATURES

Culturing of Duodenoscopes is Advised

News of patient deaths caused by outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections is fueling media attention and putting the ...read more

New Paradigm for Cleaning Efficacy

Just how efficacious are the cleaning and disinfection interventions performed in healthcare institutions? And what standard are hospitals using to ...read more

Clostridium difficile Infections

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) caused almost half a million infections among patients in the United States in a single year, according to a ...read more

Preoperative CHG Bathing

This report addresses patient skin cleansing with chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) as an effective intervention in the arsenal against surgical site ...read more

Digital Summit: Healthcare Textiles

This digital summit will address proper healthcare textiles management from an infection prevention point of view, illustrate protocols for safe ...read more

Latest Headlines

Getting Serious About MRSA Assessment

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the study published in the Oct. 17 edition of the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) which establishes the first national baseline by which future trends in MRSA infections can be assessed and studied. For more ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in Blogs
XDR TB in South Africa Traced to Lack of Drug Susceptibility Testing

In South Africa, the 2001 implementation of the World Health Organization's anti-tuberculosis program may have inadvertently helped to create a new strain of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB). In a new study published in the December 1 issue of Clinical ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
Nationwide Survey Findings Underscore Challenges, Identify Actions in Addressing HAIs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Hospital professionals identified tracking infections across the entire hospital, and the control of resistant organisms, as their top challenges related to managing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), according to a survey of more than 800 hospital ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
Blood Donations in U.S. Testing Positive for Chagas' Disease

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- In the 10 months since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed the first blood-screening test for Chagas' disease, some 241 blood donations in the United States have tested positive, indicating donor exposure to the parasite known to cause this ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
Drive-Through Flu Shots

Can a hospital administer 1,000 flu shots in just three hours? Chandler Regional Medical Center in Chandler, Ariz. will find out on Oct. 27 when it asks residents to “roll down their car windows and roll up their sleeves for an emergency terrorism drill that will test the ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in Blogs
Immune Cells Fighting Chronic Infections Become Progressively ‘Exhausted,’ Ineffective

A new study of immune cells battling a chronic viral infection shows that the cells, called T cells, become exhausted by the fight in specific ways, undergoing profound changes that make them progressively less effective over time. The findings also point to interventions ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
West Nile Virus' Spread Through Nerve Cells Linked to Serious Complication

Scientists believe they have found an explanation for a puzzling and serious complication of West Nile virus infection. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Utah State University showed that West Nile virus can enter a nerve cell, ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
Fears About Complications Shouldn't Drive Antibiotic Prescribing for Colds, Sore Throats and Ear Infections

Antibiotics are not justified to reduce the risk of complications after upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection, finds a study published on bmj.com today. But they do substantially cut the risk of pneumonia after chest infection, particularly in ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
Zinc May Reduce Pneumonia Risk in Nursing Home Elderly

When elderly nursing home residents contract pneumonia, it is a blow to their already fragile health. Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD, of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and colleagues report that maintaining normal serum zinc ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News
Epstein-Barr: a Virtual Look at a Vexing Virus

Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech, have created a computer program called Pathogen Simulation (PathSim) to study the progression of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in humans. David ...More
October 22, 2007 Posted in News