Wis. patients getting tested for HIV after misuse of equipment

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that a nurse misused equipment to teach diabetic patients how to inject insulin. Meanwhile, researchers look at how hospital uniforms can carry germs.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Disease Exposure Via Medical Devices A Growing Concern, CDC Says
Diabetic patients who may have been exposed to blood-borne diseases at a Madison-based clinic are now getting tested for hepatitis and HIV. A nurse who worked at the clinic for the past five years misused equipment to teach them to inject insulin and test their blood sugar levels, the clinic said. Meanwhile, federal officials said they have become increasingly concerned about the risks of transmitting blood-borne viruses when diabetics are assisted with testing their blood sugar levels and insulin injections, and equipment is unsafely reused with multiple patients, as occurred at Dean Clinic (Herzog, 8/31). 

MSNBC: Hospital Garb Harbors Nasty Bacteria, New Study Says
More than 60 percent of health workers' uniforms sampled by researchers tested positive for pathogens, including the germs that can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections and drug-resistant infections such as MRSA. That's according to a study of hospital attire published today in the American Journal of Infection Control. Israeli researchers collected samples from the sleeves, waists and pockets of 75 registered nurses and 60 doctors at a busy university-based hospital to confirm the germs. Half of the samples tested positive for one or more pathogens; potentially dangerous bacteria were isolated from at least one site on 63 percent of the uniforms. Of those, 11 percent of the bugs were resistant to multiple front-line antibiotics (Aleccia, 8/31).