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Cuba is known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need. Currently there are more than 50 000 Cuban-trained healthcare workers in 66 countries. Dr. Roberto Morales Ojeda, minister of public health, has announced that Cuba will send a medical team of 165 people to Sierra Leone to help in the frontline in the Ebola response efforts. This is the largest offer of a foreign medical team from a single country during this outbreak.

A scientific team led by UCSF microbiome expert Michael Fischbach, PhD, identified more than 3,000 clusters of bacterial genes at different body sites that contain the blueprints for cellular factories that make drug-like molecules. One of the molecules discovered based on gene-cluster identification, an antibiotic the researchers named lactocillin, is assembled by enzymes encoded by genes within the circular DNA plasmid of the bacterium, Lactobacillus gasseri, a common resident of the vagina. Lactocillin kills pathogenic bacteria that are found in the vagina, the researchers discovered.

Water is essential for life, and we are fortunate to have safe, affordable drinking water from municipal sources. Though water meets drinking standards when it enters a building, the complexity of healthcare building water systems can create conditions that allow growth of microorganisms, including waterborne pathogens that have been linked to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Quality improvement (QI) in healthcare is a noble initiative but an increasing number of clinicians and administrators are wondering if such efforts are paying off in terms of better outcomes and whether or not they can be sustained long-term. Some studies indicate an ongoing disconnect between QI program goals and actual results. As Schouten, et al. (2008) remark, "The multi-institutional, quality improvement collaborative is widely accepted as a strategy in healthcare. Its widespread acceptance and use are not, however, based on a systematic assessment of effectiveness."