News

Usually the microbe S. islandicus is found in hot and acidic volcanic springs, but now the microbe has also found its way to the labs of University of Southern Denmark. Here researchers have for the first time showed that the exotic microbe is capable of delivering drugs to the human body.

An international study led by University of Queensland (UQ) researchers has tracked the re-emergence of a childhood disease which had largely disappeared over the past 100 years. Researchers at UQ's Australian Infectious Diseases Centre have used genome sequencing techniques to investigate a rise in the incidence of scarlet fever-causing bacteria and an increasing resistance to antibiotics.

Healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals and device manufacturers created a roadmap for solving issues of supportability during the AAMI Forum on Supportability of Healthcare Technology, held Nov. 2-3, 2015. More than 30 stakeholders representing HTM, industry, regulatory bodies, academic institutions, and others attended the interactive meeting, presenting their supportability concerns and working toward a framework for developing solutions.  More than 30 stakeholders representing HTM, industry, regulatory bodies, academic institutions, and others attended the interactive meeting, presenting their supportability concerns and working toward a framework for developing solutions.

A team of scientists, including several from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, have determined the structures of several important tuberculosis enzymes, which could lead to new drugs for the disease.

The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa also took its toll socially on one of the fastest growing populations in the United States, African immigrants. Guy-Lucien Whembolua, a University of Cincinnati assistant professor of Africana studies, leads an analysis of national news coverage of the Ebola scare in a poster presentation on Nov. 2 at the 143rd American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting and Expo in Chicago.

The infection preventionist’s involvement in construction and renovation projects goes far beyond daily rounding. It is crucial that IPs be involved prior to construction during the concept and planning phases, as well as after construction has completed, and prior to occupancy. It takes a multi-disciplinary team to ensure that construction and renovation projects will serve both form and function of the completed needs of the space. The IP brings an infection-related mitigation skill set that serves throughout the continuum of this process.

An estimated 250,000 displaced persons will be targeted during the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaign to help control cholera outbreak in Iraq. The World Health Organization (WHO) has mobilized 510,000 doses of OCV, and the two-dose campaign is part of a strategy to prevent cholera transmission in high-risk areas and avert a potentially large-scale cholera outbreak in the 62 camps for refugees and internally displaced people.