Slide Show: A Collaborative Approach to Hand Hygiene

Artist and designer Matthew Caliman shares how personal loss inspired the Cleanup Crew, a handwashing education project using cartoon faucets, songs, and games to help families revisit an essential health message.

This week on Infection Control Today, the stories ranged from emerging drug-resistant pathogens circling the globe to a landmark decade of surface science—all against a backdrop of ongoing outbreaks and a hard look at what the profession owes its own workforce.

How do you celebrate an infection that never happened? That's one of the unusual challenges infection preventionists share with teachers. Both can spend their careers changing outcomes they may never see. Both educate people who don't always want to listen. Both are second-guessed. Both face burnout. And both must somehow keep remembering why they started.

In 1926, Karen Jones’s grandmother lost 5 children to measles in 8 days. A century later, Jones connects that devastating family history to vaccination, outbreak preparedness, and the role of infection preventionists in building trust.

What Were the Biggest Infection Prevention Stories This Week? Ebola's Outpaced Response, Lyme Coinfection Data, and Sterile Processing Burnout Explained, and more

The knowledge used to prevent infections can also be misused. Through a personal reflection on gaming, AI, and biological research, an infection preventionist explores why faster answers make human judgment, peer consultation, and accountability increasingly important.

A study of 193,260 individuals found overlapping tick-borne antibody levels more frequently among those with Lyme antibodies, highlighting diagnostic challenges when active coinfections are not confirmed.

A shifting mask or fogged eyewear can interrupt focus when precision matters most. Dana Weaver Storm, MHA, BSN, RN, examines the challenges of prolonged surgical mask use and how perioperative leaders can support comfort, visibility, and consistent adherence.