Infection Control Today Magazine

Outbreak Investigation

The Challenges of Tracing the Origins of Food Poisoning Outbreaks

As illustrated by the 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany, any delay in identifying the source of food poisoning outbreaks can cost lives and cause considerable political and economical damage. An international multidisciplinary team of scientists have shown that difficulties ...More
June 1, 2012
Posted in News
Investigators Trace of Role Reusable Grocery Bag in Norovirus Outbreak

Oregon investigators recently mapped the trail of an outbreak of a nasty stomach bug among participants in a girls' soccer tournament to a reusable open top grocery bag stored in a hotel bathroom. Their findings, which illustrate the role that inanimate objects can play in ...More
May 9, 2012
Posted in News, Environmental Hygiene
In the Aftermath of an Outbreak, Processes, Device Design Come Under Scrutiny

In the May 2012 print issue of ICT, we explore the dialogue in the sterile processing community that was sparked by a report in the mainstream media on dirty surgical instruments. In actuality, the genesis of the TODAY Show segment and a report from the Center for Public ...More
May 7, 2012
Posted in Articles, Disinfection & Sterilization
Outbreak Investigation: Study Provides Glimpse into National Experience

How often are outbreak investigations being conducted at U.S. hospitals? Fairly frequently, according to a group of researchers who also sought to examine the various triggers for investigations, the types of organisms involved, and the control measures being utilized by ...More
April 10, 2012
Posted in Articles, Policies and Practice
Researchers Use Game to Change How Scientists Study Disease Outbreaks

It may seem like a game of tag, but it's an innovative tool for teaching the fundamentals of epidemiology, the science of how infectious diseases move through a population. An international team of scientists--including researchers who teach an annual clinic at the African ...More
April 6, 2012
Posted in News
Georgia Tech Develops Software for the Rapid Analysis of Foodborne Pathogens

2011 brought two of the deadliest bacterial outbreaks the world has seen during the last 25 years. The two epidemics accounted for more than 4,200 cases of infectious disease and 80 deaths. Software developed at Georgia Tech was used to help characterize the bacteria that ...More
February 13, 2012
Posted in News
Norovirus is the Leading Cause of Outbreaks in U.S. Hospitals

Norovirus, a pathogen that often causes food poisoning and gastroenteritis, was responsible for 18.2 percent of all infection outbreaks and 65 percent of ward closures in U.S. hospitals during a two-year period, according to a new study published in the February 2012 issue ...More
January 31, 2012
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Bacterial Genes Tell the Tale of an Outbreak's Evolution

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston have retraced the evolution of an unusual bacterial infection as it spread among cystic fibrosis patients by sequencing scores of samples collected during the outbreak, since contained. A significant ...More
November 11, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
Google Earth Typhoid Maps Reveal Secrets of Disease Outbreaks

In the mid-19th century, John Snow mapped cases of cholera in Soho, London, and traced the source of the outbreak to a contaminated water pump. Now, in a 21st-century equivalent, scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust working in Kathmandu, Nepal, have combined the latest ...More
October 17, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens
FDA Investigates Multi-State Outbreak of Listeriosis

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is working closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health agencies to investigate a multi-state outbreak of listeriosis. At least 15 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria ...More
September 13, 2011
Posted in News, Infections & Pathogens