Infection Control Today Magazine

Outbreak Detection

Could Social Media be Used to Detect Disease Outbreaks?

New research has looked at whether social media could be used to track an event or phenomenon, such as flu outbreaks and rainfall rates. The study by academics at the University of Bristol's Intelligent Systems Laboratory is published online in ACM Transactions on ...More
November 1, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Public Health System Must be Prepared for Lethal Disease Outbreak

Infectious disease and disaster preparedness experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine say the premise of the soon-to-be-released Hollywood movie Contagion, in which a lethal airborne virus spreads quickly around the globe, is realistic and should serve as a reminder that the ...More
September 8, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Hospital Bacteria Outbreak Linked to Nasal Spray

Infection control researchers investigating a rare bacterial outbreak of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) identified contaminated nasal spray as the root cause of the infections, leading to a national recall of the product. An article in the August issue of Infection ...More
July 21, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Scabies Outbreak Linked to Nurse's Dirty Compression Glove

A dirty compression glove worn by a healthcare worker is implicated in a scabies outbreak among newborns. In a study appearing in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Barbara G. Ross, of the Department of Infection Prevention and Control at New York-Presbyterian ...More
May 6, 2011
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene, PPE & Standard Precautions
Program Provides Predictive Surveillance Models for Infectious Disease Outbreak Scenarios

Clara J. Witt, of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center in Silver Spring, Md., and colleagues, report in BMC Public Health that the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Division of Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System Operations (AFHSC-GEIS) ...More
March 7, 2011
Posted in News
Outbreak Detection, Control and Response is Among New Health Promotion Strategy

The National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council has released a draft National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy for public comment. The National Prevention Strategy will include actions that address prevention and promote healthy development and ...More
January 17, 2011
Posted in News
Legionellosis Outbreak: A Moving Target

Determining the source of an infectious outbreak can be difficult in and of itself, but a moving reservoir adds to the challenges. That's what researchers encountered when investigating cases of Legionnaires' disease that kept presenting in one city in Spain. ...More
August 11, 2010
Posted in News
Electronic Surveillance is Key to HAI Investigation

Electronic surveillance is becoming a critical tool in an infection preventionist's arsenal of tools with which to fight healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs). ICT presents the following case studies to highlight the benefits of using informatics in infection prevention and ...More
July 26, 2010
Posted in Articles
Swift Actions Stop Outbreak at Dallas Hospital

Rapid identification and aggressive infection control measures allowed a Dallas hospital to stop the spread of Acinetobacter baumannii. ...More
July 13, 2010
Posted in News
Progress in Implementing Food Safety Recommendations

Progress has been made in boosting food safety in the U.S., health officials say. ...More
July 12, 2010
Posted in News