Infections

Significant morbidity and mortality is caused by healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), including surgical site infections (SSIs), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and other healthcare-related infections and conditions caused by drug-resistant pathogens that jeopardize patient safety.

Pill May Prevent Serious Foodborne Illness Someday

Modified probiotics, the beneficial bacteria touted for their role in digestive health, could one day decrease the risk of Listeria infection in people with susceptible immune systems, according to Purdue University research. Arun Bhunia, a professor of food science; Mary ...More
January 9, 2012
Posted in News
Study Confirms New Strategy in Fight Against Infectious Diseases

New research shows that infectious disease-fighting drugs could be designed to block a pathogen’s entry into cells rather than to kill the bug itself. Historically, medications for infectious diseases have been designed to kill the offending pathogen. This new strategy is ...More
January 9, 2012
Posted in News
3M Convenes Infection Prevention Experts for Interdisciplinary Call-to-Action to Reduce SSIs

Today, a cross-functional team of infection prevention experts released "Educate, Empower, Engage: A Collaborative Interdisciplinary Call-to-Action for Reducing Surgical Site Infections," outlining potential solutions for preventing surgical site infections (SSIs) at ...More
January 9, 2012
Posted in News, PPE & Standard Precautions
Experts Assess Lack of Success in Prevention and Control of Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the United States, with the majority of cases occurring in the Northeast. It has been three decades since the agent of the disease, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, and the ticks that vector it were ...More
January 5, 2012
Posted in News
Research Shows Progress Toward a Genital Herpes Vaccine

Robert Belshe, MD, led national research on an investigational genital herpes vaccine, which was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. An investigational vaccine protected some women against infection from one of the two types of herpes simplex viruses that cause ...More
January 5, 2012
Posted in News
Researchers Identify Novel Compound to Halt Virus Replication

A team of scientists from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified a novel compound that inhibits viruses from replicating. The findings, which are published online in the Journal of Virology, could lead to the development of highly targeted compounds to ...More
January 4, 2012
Posted in News
Manipulating the Way Bacteria Communicate Could Have Practical Applications

By manipulating the way bacteria "talk" to each other, researchers at Texas A&M University have achieved an unprecedented degree of control over the formation and dispersal of biofilms – a finding with potentially significant health and industrial applications, ...More
January 4, 2012
Posted in News
Promiscuity of Resistance Plasmid is Unprecedented

Genetic analysis of an outbreak of drug-resistant infections in one institution shows an unprecedented level of transference of resistance among strains and even species of bacteria. Researchers from the University of Virginia and the Centers for Disease Control and ...More
January 4, 2012
Posted in News
The Private Nuclear Rooms of Herpesviruses

Researchers from Princeton University have discovered why, despite being bombarded by many different herpesviruses, infected cells produce only a limited number of those viruses. They report their findings in the current issue of the online journal mBio. Herpes viruses are ...More
January 4, 2012
Posted in News
Unique E. coli Protein May Be Not After All

A bacterial protein recently thought to be a unique mechanism for utilizing iron may not be after all. Researchers from the University of Georgia, the Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Utah School of Medicine report ...More
January 4, 2012
Posted in News