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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 healthcare facilities. They also discovered that norovirus caused 18.2 percent of all infection outbreaks and 65 percent of ward closures in U.S. hospitals during a two-year period.

Today, most HAI surveillance is passive, relying on data retrospectively gathered from medical records. Conversely, active surveillance involves prospective steps to identify patients who have or who may develop HAIs, using standardized definitions of infection, pre-determined criteria, and protocols that result in risk-adjusted HAI incidence rates.

A new study offers compelling genetic evidence that head and body lice are the same species. The finding is of special interest because body lice can transmit deadly bacterial diseases, while head lice do not. The study appears in the journal Insect Molecular Biology.

Imagine a nurse, lets call her Jill, who faces multiple scrub-ins everyday as part of her operating room (OR) role. She struggles with a rash on her hands and wrists that just wont go away, causing both physical and emotional trauma. These recurring and often painful skin conditions which range from mild irritations to more serious reactions can persist, despite the care taken by nurses and hospitals. Add to that the toll in sick leaves and absenteeism, and the cost of this condition can be painful to both staff and administration. Despite the care and costs, hospitals have not solved the problem. But there is an answer!

Protecting patients from surgical and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) is always part of the safety agenda at the National Patient Safety Foundation, says the organizations president Diane Pinakiewicz. The organization has partnered with and supported the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), and last year developed tools to help consumers understand the patients role in protecting against HAIs.

Since person-to-person spread does not occur with Legionella pneumonia, it remains one of the very few healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) linked exclusively to an environmental source in this case, water. Unfortunately, the advantage of focusing prevention efforts on this defined reservoir is offset by the ubiquity of water in healthcare settings and the varied ways in which water systems may interact with the provision of patient care.