News

A recent University of Illinois (U of I) study links the application of disinfectants in recreational pools to previously published adverse health outcomes such as asthma and bladder cancer.

Tamir Biotechnology, Inc. announces that scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) confirmed that testing of two of the company's compounds Onconase (Ranpirnase), and recombinant Amphinase 2 showed positive in vitro results for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus.

The prospect of efficiently controlling HIV persistence in infected persons was the topic of a high-level, two-day meeting of researchers gathered in Vienna, Austria on the eve of AIDS 2010, the biennial international conference of HIV researchers, funders, policy-makers and advocates.

A new vaccine-delivery patch based on hundreds of microscopic needles that dissolve into the skin could allow persons without medical training to painlessly administer vaccines while providing improved immunization against diseases such as influenza

In the wake of the discovery that as many as 1,800 veterans may have been exposed to HIV and the hepatitis B virus while receiving dental care at the John A. Cochran Medical Center in St. Louis, an independent panel is now investigating why there were breaches of infection prevention and control practices relating to the disinfection and sterilization of instruments.

A new study suggests that using household cleaning and pesticide products could contribute to an increased risk of women developing breast cancer, as many of these products contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals or mammary gland carcinogens.

Sepsis and septic shock appear to be more common than heart attacks or pulmonary blood clots among patients having general surgery, and the death rate for patients with septic shock is approximately 34 percent within 30 days of operation, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Surgery.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center are using computers to identify how one strain of dangerous bacteria might mutate in the same way a champion chess player tries to anticipate an opponent's strategies.

The Ninth National Quality Colloquium is a hybrid conference and Internet event on patient safety, healthcare quality enhancement and medical errors reduction for healthcare executives, clinicians and patient-care staff.

The course, "The Infection Control Professional as an Environmentalist" will be offered Oct. 25-29, 2010 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education.

A pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduced in the U.S. 10 years ago appears to reduce pneumonia and serious associated complications, such as blood infections, in the vaccine's target range, children less than a year old, according to new research.

A research project to identify all the surface proteins of USA300the most common community-associated strain of the methicillin-resistant form of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)has resulted in the identification and isolation of a plentiful new toxin that laboratory studies indicate is a potent killer of human immune cells.

In a new campaign, "I Believe in Zero CLABSIs," the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has teamed with patient safety expert Peter Pronovost, MD, of Johns Hopkins, to mobilize infection preventionists to prove that prevention is possible.

Ascent, a leader in delivering healthcare resource sustainability, has been awarded a three-year, single-source agreement with Upper Midwest Consolidated Service Center (UMCSC), a supply network of VHA member hospitals in the Midwest.