Infection Control News and Research

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Is it possible to identify pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 clinically?

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted morbidity and mortality in nursing home residents across the world. Earlier detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may help better mitigate the risk of viral transmission. As both pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission is common in these outbreaks, screening for threshold temperatures of 38°C or higher could miss timely detection in most infected people.

29 Jul 2021

CDC monitoring over 200 individuals possibly exposed to monkeypox

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is monitoring over 200 people who may have been exposed to the monkeypox virus.

22 Jul 2021

Diagnosis and management of COVID-19 in clinical settings

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has spread throughout the globe and much time has passed since it was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

14 Jul 2021

Study reports low risk for COVID-19 in Emergency Medical Service personnel exposed to aerosol-generating procedures

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that emergency medical service personnel exposed to aerosol-generating procedures (AGP) on COVID-19 patients are generally at low risk of infection. The findings, published in CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases, support clinical strategies that maintain established and evidence-based practices for emergency conditions.

13 Jul 2021

Why is the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant so concerning?

As cases surge in the United States, health experts have raised the alarm that vaccinated individuals may be spreading the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant. Over half of new infections in the U.S. are now caused by this highly transmissible variant.

9 Jul 2021

Compulsory covid-19 vaccination for care home workers is unnecessary, disproportionate and misguided, experts argue

In The BMJ today, experts argue that mandatory vaccination is “unnecessary, disproportionate, and misguided.”

8 Jul 2021

COVID-19 prevalence among hospitalized infants may depend on levels of community transmission

How common COVID-19 is among infants may depend on the degree of the pandemic virus circulating in a community, a new study finds.

30 Jun 2021

New biomarkers can predict HIV remission after antiretroviral therapy interruption

New biomarkers that predict HIV remission after antiretroviral therapy (ART) interruption are critical for the development of new therapeutic strategies that can achieve infection control without ART, a condition defined as functional cure.

29 Jun 2021

Care home staff burdened by increased workload caused by COVID-19 pandemic

A recent group of researchers aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the working practices of care home staff, particularly those caring for people with dementia.

24 Jun 2021

Health care leaders call for action to prevent non-ventilator-associated, hospital-acquired pneumonia

A group of health care leaders, including a University of Massachusetts Amherst nurse innovator, has published a national call to action to prevent non-ventilator-associated, hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP).

23 Jun 2021

Could the European hedgehog be a sentinel for infectious agents and a harbinger of environmental pollution?

A recent review paper by Portuguese and Spanish authors, recently published in the journal Biologics, revealed the current state of knowledge regarding hedgehog health – most notably the presence of infectious agents, diseases and other threats that can affect the health of the population.

21 Jun 2021

New insight into SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine breakthrough infections

In the current study, vaccine breakthrough infections were noted in 24 people who had previously received COVID-19 vaccines.

17 Jun 2021

Scientists detect delayed and reduced antibody responses after BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in older adults

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected delayed and reduced antibody and T cell responses after immunization with BNT162b2 or the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in older adults compared with healthcare workers in Germany.

11 Jun 2021

Poorly fitting face masks increase the risk of airborne diseases

Even the best face masks work only as well as their fit. And poorly fitting face masks greatly increase the risk of infection from airborne pathogens compared to custom-fitted masks, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati.

9 Jun 2021

In California, nursing home owners can operate after they’re denied a license

The pandemic has highlighted poor care in America’s nursing homes, where nearly 175,000 people have died of covid-19 — a third of all deaths from the disease nationwide.

28 May 2021

Tissue-resident memory T cells found in lungs of people who had COVID-19 10 months ago

In recent research by Judith Grau-Expósito et al., scientists identify circulating virus-specific T cell responses during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection with functional, migratory, and apoptotic patterns modulated by viral proteins and associated with clinical outcome.

26 May 2021

Electrospun nanofibrous filters capture 99.9 percent of coronavirus aerosols, study finds

Researchers at The George Washington University and the University of California in the U.S. compared the efficacy of surgical and cotton masks, a neck gaiter, and electrospun nanofiber membranes to capture coronavirus aerosols and prevent airborne transmission.

21 May 2021