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Healthcare professionals around the country are rallying to reduce infection rates by promoting sustained behaviors, fostering a shared sense of purpose and empowering individuals to make a difference at every level of care. The new initiative, called OneTogether: The Power of Small Actions, aims to reduce the incidence of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) by increasing awareness of how the small, individual actions of every healthcare worker can have a profound influence on patient health and safety. While no one can discount the benefits of modern science, some of the most significant advances in human health have as much to do with human behavior as they do with technology. And OneTogether seeks to harness the power of people to further reduce HAIs.

When patients are admitted into a hospital room that has been prepared for a new patient, they anticipate the room has been properly disinfected and is free from harmful pathogens known to cause healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). As practitioners in infection control and prevention, we know that despite the use of strong disinfectants and rigid protocols for cleaning and disinfection; oftentimes, pathogens are left behind on surfaces.

Emerging infectious diseases comprise a substantial fraction of all consequential human infections. They have caused the deadliest pandemics in recorded human history, including the Black Death pandemic (bubonic/pneumonic plague; 25 million to 40 million deaths) in the 14th century, the 1918 influenza pandemic (50 million deaths), and the HIV/AIDS pandemic (35 million deaths so far).

A new study seeks to determine how one parasitic species can give rise to two drastically different outcomes in its host: The human body louse (Pediculus humanus) can transmit dangerous bacterial infections to humans, while the human head louse (also Pediculus humanus) does not. A report of the new study appears in the journal Insect Molecular Biology.