News

A letter has been sent to more than 4500 veterans stating that reusable instruments used in medical procedures may not have been sterilized properly at a Georgia hospital.

The virus may have found yet another stable host in the white-tailed deer population.

Face covering determinations will now be made based off hospitalizations, rather than case counts, among other metrics.

The new immunization schedule also includes updates and clarifications on vaccines such as hepatitis B, recombinant zoster vaccine, and the pneumococcal vaccine.

This vaccine will add another alternative to the current vaccines on the market if approved in US and Europe.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending February 18.

Patients can potentially be at increased risk for infection from damaged hospital mattresses and beds. More diligent and frequent cleaning must be done to keep patients safer.

Investigators found that 32% of older adults diagnosed with COVID-19 sought medical attention in the post-acute period.

IPs in the VA system aim their infection prevention sights on most areas of care: acute care, nursing homes, palliative, mental health. They track infections differently. In addition, the VA acts as a testing ground for IP innovations.

Lisa Waldowski, DNP, RN, CIC, of Kaiser Permanente: “There will always be a role for infection preventionists. I don’t worry about job security, so to speak. There are so many elements within infection prevention and control.”

There’s a long way to go before the industry recovers from the mass worker exodus from health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infection prevention especially faces daunting challenges.

A CDC program examines wastewater to get a jump on COVID-19 eruptions, and also to detect new variants, some of which may have been hatched in animals.

Former President Trump’s Presidential Federal Advisory Committee for COVID-19 needs to be reestablished under President Biden.

Jamie Seltzer: “We have so much history—recent history as well as 100 years ago—to tell us that it would be incredibly unusual and atypical if SARS-CoV-2 were the only viral infection that did not lead to post-viral complications.”

A public/private enterprise taps into the entrepreneurial urge that will hopefully help the United States avoid the disastrous shortages of personal protective equipment that deviled the health care system in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beneficiaries in both original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans will be able to obtain 8 free at-home COVID-19 tests a month.

Individuals who’ve been vaccinated and those vaccinated who’ve also gotten a booster are less likely to become infected by either Omicron or stealth Omicron, the study states.

As we approach year 3, the contribution made by infection preventionists in battling this pandemic needs to be appreciated more.

Proper ventilation can greatly reduce the environmental strain on operating rooms. However, there’s no one-size-fits all solution.

Many people suffer from long COVID, and since COVID-19 is a fairly recent development experts aren’t sure what “long” means exactly. Weeks? Months? Years? A lifetime?

ICU nurses, more than other clinicians, because they have the most interaction with patients. Non-clinical workers because they may not be knowledgeable enough about mitigation methods, a study states.

Initial data suggest that it appears to be more infectious than even the highly infectious original Omicron variant.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending January 28.

Long COVID’s symptoms seem to match those of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a condition that millions have suffered from for decades.

COVID-19 mutations are evading our immunity and at the same time our immunity is waning. Herd immunity to disease and the eradication of SARS-CoV-2 is no longer possible.

Reinfections among study participants most likely occurred outside the hospital setting where workers might let their guard down and not practice nonpharmaceutical mitigation efforts against SARS-CoV-2.

Moves by the FDA and NIH to revise treatment guidelines run up against a system of testing for COVID-19 that faces logistical hurdles.

In making the ruling, the FDA stated that it wants to spare patients the risk of side effects such as injection site soreness or allergic reactions for treatments unlikely to work.