Is the Ebola outbreak in the DRC getting better? The answer depends on which numbers you examine. Several important indicators are moving in the right direction, including slower case growth and a declining Rₜ. But major gaps remain in contact tracing, testing, community deaths, safe burial coverage, and treatment capacity in some of the hardest-hit areas. ICT takes a deeper look at the latest outbreak data and why the numbers suggest cautious optimism, not victory.
At AHE Exchange 2026, ICT spoke with experts representing commercial laundry services, EVS, and infection prevention about the systems behind a successful reusable linen program. They discuss linen quality, reject rates, unnecessary waste, frontline education, data, PAR levels, infection prevention oversight, and why strong relationships between health care facilities and their laundry providers matter.
How do you celebrate an infection that never happened? That's one of the unusual challenges infection preventionists share with teachers. Both can spend their careers changing outcomes they may never see. Both educate people who don't always want to listen. Both are second-guessed. Both face burnout. And both must somehow keep remembering why they started.
A needlestick injury happens in seconds. Its cause may have started hours earlier. Amy Piser argues that getting closer to “sharps injury zero” requires health care organizations to stop focusing solely on the moment of injury and start examining the systems surrounding it.
Coffee cups aren't infectious. Yet ordinary trash can end up in regulated medical waste streams, increasing both costs and environmental impact. Ashley L. Perry, MS, explains how hospitals can improve waste segregation, scrutinize green claims, and balance sustainability with infection prevention.
Bacteria have learned to evade many of our antibiotics. But what about defenses shaped by millions of years of evolution? An experimental peptide derived from the human immune protein CXCL10 targets resistant pathogens by exploiting a distinct bacterial vulnerability. The research is early, but the strategy could have implications far beyond a single drug candidate.
The US effectively eliminated measles once. Now cases are climbing again, infants remain vulnerable, people have died, and vaccine misinformation is undermining one of public health's greatest achievements. The price of forgetting what vaccines prevent can be measured in lives.
If your USP <797> environmental monitoring program only identifies problems after an excursion, are you really in control? Rhonda Lintner outlines 3 levels of maturity: compliance, data trending, and genus-level identification.
Infection Control Today has published several articles on CBIC's updated IPU requirements for Industry Partners. We have been given permission to post the joint response from CBIC and APIC on the coverage by ICT and on social media.
There’s a bat in the hospital. Now what? Before anyone swats it, grabs it, or throws it away, infection prevention needs staff to understand one thing: That bat may be critical evidence in determining whether patients and employees need rabies PEP. One bat. One bad decision. A potentially enormous exposure investigation.
CBIC's new IPU requirements are intended to protect continuing education from commercial influence. But they could also change who provides education, who funds it, and who ultimately pays for it. When “free” education gets more expensive to provide, somebody has to pick up the bill.
PCR hasn't killed culture. As AMR surveillance expands, selective culture media remain important for viable pathogen isolation, confirmation, characterization, and susceptibility testing. The global market is projected to reach $6.1B by 2035.
Recent changes from CBIC involving IPUs have opened a much bigger conversation about industry, consultants, commercial bias, continuing education, and professional expertise. In a candid Contagious Conversations discussion, 4 experienced IP professionals ask whether the answer should depend on where an educator works or what that educator actually teaches. It is a conversation the IPC community may need to have sooner rather than later.
Can a UV-C robot make up for a surface that wasn't properly cleaned? Experts say that's the wrong way to think about the technology. UV-C can provide an additional layer of microbial reduction, but factors including shadows, distance, positioning, and exposure time mean it cannot replace thorough manual cleaning and disinfection.
During an expert panel at Exchange26 on whole-room microbial reduction technologies, regulatory and health care leaders discussed the distinction between FDA and EPA oversight, what constitutes a medical device claim, the risks surrounding unauthorized or off-label claims, and why IP and EVS professionals should verify a device's regulatory status rather than relying solely on vendor presentations.
“Cutting” waste shouldn’t mean cutting people. At AHE Exchange26, David Green and Donald Sipp explored how EVS departments can improve performance by strengthening workplace culture, empowering employees, eliminating inefficient processes, and understanding EVS’s critical role in patient throughput. One case study showed bed turnaround times falling from nearly 2 hours to less than an hour, but the larger lesson wasn't simply about speed. High-performing EVS operations begin with a strong foundation.
At AHE Exchange26, experts revealed how surprisingly small gaps in linen education can contribute to waste, higher costs, and potential patient safety risks. The solution begins with something simple: helping everyone who touches health care linen understand why their role matters.
The childhood vaccine schedule is changing, but what happens when preventing disease becomes more complicated for families? Public health and infection prevention experts are raising concerns about access, missed vaccination opportunities, vaccine confidence, and what the changes could ultimately mean inside health care facilities.
Community health workers in Malawi are helping close pediatric HIV care gaps by tracing children who miss testing, addressing barriers to care, and connecting vulnerable families with treatment and support.
Malawi has made major progress against HIV among adults, but children continue to lag behind. Community health workers are helping close that gap by finding HIV-exposed infants and children who have fallen out of facility-based care.
The Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens that are clinically important in today's health care facilities. This month’s Bug of the Month isn’t quite like anything we’ve featured before. Can you solve the clues before the final reveal?
In this podcast with ICT, Danielle Updegraff, MBA, BSN, RN, discusses real-time location systems, which can give infection prevention teams greater visibility into hand hygiene, workflow, and infectious disease exposures, but sustainable improvement still depends on staff engagement, leadership, education, and culture.
In this complete interview, ICT speaks with Endale Tilahun, MD, MPH, about a Malawi community program that reduced missed HIV testing and achieved 0.2% positivity among exposed infants through household follow-up, individualized case management, and coordinated health and social support.
A new $17 million international clinical trial will evaluate personalized phage therapy for recurrent antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections, bringing together researchers from 13 countries.
Merck has announced that the FDA accepted its supplemental application to expand ENFLONSIA's indication to include children younger than 2 years who remain at increased risk for severe RSV disease during their second RSV season.
Roche has introduced 2 new research-use PCR assays for Cyclospora cayetanensis, expanding laboratory testing options as public health officials continue to respond to one of the largest Cyclospora outbreaks in US history.
Reusable lead aprons and thyroid collars are used daily throughout hospitals, but often fall outside standardized cleaning protocols. Infection prevention and perioperative experts discuss contamination risks, ATP testing, operational barriers, and the need for multidisciplinary collaboration to strengthen environmental hygiene and reduce the risk of HAIs.
Claryx has emerged from stealth with funding and a genomic surveillance platform designed to help hospitals identify hidden transmission chains, trace infection sources, and intervene before outbreaks grow.
Sina Bavari, PhD, discusses promising preclinical findings for the investigational TNX-801 vaccine, emerging mpox variants, durable immunity, and why infection preventionists should continue preparing for future outbreaks.
After experiencing severe professional burnout, an infection preventionist found renewed purpose by mentoring others, seeking mentorship herself, and rebuilding connection, confidence, and commitment to her career.
