News

Leading parasitologists with the nonprofit Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) say the risk of Lyme disease will increase this fall. According to the organization's Fall 2012 CAPC Lyme Disease Forecast, the disease will continue to spread southward through the United States and expand significantly along the West Coast.

A strengthened standard from the Joint Commission is adding additional weight to the importance of healthcare worker vaccination against influenza. As of July 1, 2012, the Joint Commission requires that all accredited healthcare organizations establish an annual influenza vaccination program for staff members and licensed independent practitioners. The standard should be very familiar to many infection preventionists, as six years ago the Joint Commission required that hospitals and long-term care facilities seeking accreditation establish an influenza vaccination program which includes educating about and providing influenza vaccination to healthcare professionals.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a final investigation update regarding the multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Newport infections linked to cantaloupe.

Ben Taub General Hospital (BTGH) is a 575-bed public teaching hospital serving residents of Harris County, Texas. It is one of only two designated Level 1 Trauma Centers in Houston, Texas. The Trauma Surgical Intensive Care Unit (TSICU) is a 30-bed unit consisting of 24 open ward beds and six isolation rooms. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are the most common of the healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in all hospitals across the United States costing $565 million annually. The majority of these CAUTIs (50 percent to 75 percent) are preventable.

On Oct. 4, 2012, the CDC and FDA hosted a briefing to discuss the multi-state investigation of meningitis among patients who have received epidural steroid injections. According to Benjamin Park, MD, medical officer, Mycotic Diseases Branch, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC, there have been 35 cases in six states: Tennessee (25), North Carolina 1), Florida (2), Virginia (4), Maryland (2) and Indiana (1). There have been five deaths: three in Tennessee, one in Virginia, and one in Maryland.