News

Researchers from the University of Southampton have demonstrated how a pioneering ultrasonic device can significantly improve the cleaning of medical instruments and reduce contamination and risk of infection.

Senior molecular biology major Jacob Hatch knows MRSA as the infection that took his dad's leg. Hatch was thousands of miles away on an LDS (Mormon) mission when methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus decalcified the bones in his dad's foot and lower leg, leading to an emergency amputation just below the knee.

Bacteria aren't the only nonhuman invaders to colonize the gut shortly after a baby's birth. Viruses also set up house there, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. All together, these invisible residents are thought to play important roles in human health. The study, published online Sept. 14 in Nature Medicine, reports data from eight healthy infants and is one of the first surveys of viruses that reside in the intestine. The investigators analyzed stool samples to track how the babies' bacterial gut microbiomes and viromes changed over the first two years of life.

Three antibiotics that, individually, are not effective against a drug-resistant staph infection can kill the deadly pathogen when combined as a trio, according to new research. The researchers, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have killed the bug - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - in test tubes and laboratory mice, and believe the same three-drug strategy may work in people.

Virginia Tech researchers have discovered a new group of antibiotics that may provide relief to some of the more than 2 million people in the United States affected by antibiotic resistance.The new antibiotics target the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and the antibiotic resistant strains commonly known as MRSA, short for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Q: Our facility has been using rigid sterilization containers for some time. We do not have a cart washer or mechanical washer so we wipe them out with a disinfectant wipe. I attended a webinar and was told this is not accepted practice. We have been cleaning the containers this way for years. What is the correct practice?

Proteins called broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are a promising key to the prevention of infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. bNAbs have been found in blood samples from some HIV patients whose immune systems can naturally control the infection. These antibodies may protect a patient's healthy cells by recognizing a protein called the envelope spike, present on the surface of all HIV strains and inhibiting, or neutralizing, the effects of the virus. Now Caltech researchers have discovered that one particular bNAb may be able to recognize this signature protein, even as it takes on different conformations during infection--making it easier to detect and neutralize the viruses in an infected patient.

Hospital environmental services (EVS) workers want to do the best job they can to keep healthcare facilities clean and ultimately protect patients from harm. But often there is a lack of understanding of proper hand hygiene protocol-and an accompanying lack of training.

Currently there is no published guideline or community standard for the way in which infection preventionists (IPs) should spend their time each day in hospitals and ambulatory-based settings. The Infrastructure Report and the APIC IP Competency Model both help to address this, building on the SENIC study, though none offers a level of guidance that would support reliable design for the time constructs of IPs. The way in which IPs spend their time varies widely among facilities and across the continuum of care, driven in part by regulations, by the priorities to the IP’s manager, and by the strengths and interests of the IP. In the absence of a guideline, the goal of this paper is offer a best practice model for structuring the day of an IP based on the APIC IP Competency Model, and for staffing a qualified and successful IP department/team. A sample organizational chart is also offered. We intend for this paper to be used to inform executives in hospitals and ambulatory-care facilities in order to support the priorities and scope of infection prevention and control programs, and to ensure that these programs are adequately resourced to protect relevant clinical imperatives.