Thomas Jefferson University announces it has received a $4.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to test a new rabies vaccine with the potential to cure the virus infection, even after it has made its way into a persons central nervous system (CNS). Today, if an unvaccinated person is infected with rabies and it spreads to the brain, there is little chance for survival.
Some habits die hard, but healthcare professionals should be making a concerted effort to use the term "immediate-use sterilization" instead of "flash sterilization" to describe a quick turnaround of an instrument, but more importantly, facilities must know when and why this approach should or should not be taken. This article is a review of the protocol and the reasoning behind it related to fast sterilization of a surgical instrument.