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CDC recommends effective tips to help families stay healthy during peak flu activity

With outbreaks of cold and flu on the rise across the U.S., Americans are facing a seemingly impossible task of helping their families stay healthy this winter. As of last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 47 states have declared the incidence of flu to be regional or widespread in their communities and nearly 10,000 cases of H1N1 have been documented.

28 Jan 2014

Healthcare workers' hands contaminated with C. difficile after routine care, study shows

A new study finds nearly one in four healthcare workers' hands were contaminated with Clostridium difficile spores after routine care of patients infected with the bacteria. The study was published in the January issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

24 Dec 2013

Study reveals that two wastewater treatment plants in China fail to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Tests at two wastewater treatment plants in northern China revealed antibiotic-resistant bacteria were not only escaping purification but also breeding and spreading their dangerous cargo.

17 Dec 2013

Infection prevention: an interview with Dr. Robert Gorab, Chief Medical Officer, Hoag Orthopedic Institute

HOI has one of the lowest if not the lowest surgical readmission rate in the State of California. Our all-cause readmission rate is 3.3% and our joint replacement readmission was at 1.8% based on published CMS reports we received in September 2013.

12 Nov 2013

Probiotics may help keep bad germs at bay

Microbes are everywhere - thousands of species are in your mouth, and thousands are in a glass of tap water. The ones in your mouth are mostly harmless - as long as you brush and floss so they don't form a biofilm that allows gum disease a path into the blood stream.

4 Nov 2013

Nanosonics named healthcare industry’s Company of the Year for 2013

Nanosonics Limited (ASX: NAN) is pleased to announce it has been named the healthcare industry’s Company of the Year for 2013.

31 Oct 2013

Purdue scientist develops solar UV radiation system to kill waterborne microbes

According to Ernest "Chip" R. Blatchley III, professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University, more than 800 million people do not have readily available, inexpensive access to a safe water supply.

25 Oct 2013

Simple remedies can help keep patients safe from bacterial contamination

Simple remedies - from keeping the antibacterial gel dispenser clean to giving health care workers their own hand sanitizer - can help keep patients safe by decreasing contamination in operating and recovery rooms, suggest two studies presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2013 annual meeting.

14 Oct 2013

High voltage, short pulsed electric fields destroy cells in skin tissue, lead to scarless tissue regeneration

High voltage, short pulsed electric fields, used for disinfection and solid tumor destruction, selectively damage cell membranes, while preserving overall tissue structure, a phenomenon that may be a key factor in scarless tissue regeneration.

11 Oct 2013

CHD Bioscience's lead product can help mitigate increasing threat of HAIs

According to a recent report issued by the Centers for Disease Control, every year more than two million people develop infections that are resistant to antibiotics. Specific healthcare-associated infections are classified as urgent threats and affect approximately 1.7 million people annually across the United States, leading to death in nearly 99,000 patients.

9 Oct 2013

Cleaning product-related asthma goes beyond irritation

Research from Belgium indicates that a substantial proportion of those who have occupational asthma related to cleaning agents have specific airway sensitivity to the components of detergents.

27 Sep 2013

Clean water and growth of children: an interview with Dr Alan Dangour

Growth in children is known to be directly affected by two critical factors: food intake and incidence of disease. It is known that access to good quality water, improved sanitation and enhanced hygiene (WASH) practices lead to decreased levels of infectious disease in children. We were interested to know whether this decline in disease would lead to improvements in child growth.

23 Sep 2013

Faecal contamination in natural pools due to droppings from birds

The use of natural pools - those that do not use chlorine or other chemical disinfection products - has seen an upward trend in recent years. Now, scientists from the University of Barcelona have discovered faecal contamination in some pools due to droppings from birds and other animals.

9 Aug 2013

Decatur Memorial Hospital installs germ-zapping robots to kill bugs

As hospitals across the nation look for new and innovative ways to battle deadly pathogens and kill multi-drug resistant organisms that put patients at risk, Decatur Memorial Hospital (DMH) has taken a leap into the future with the installation of two germ-zapping robots that eliminate hard-to-kill bugs in hard-to-clean places.

3 Aug 2013

Abbott's FreeStyle Precision Pro Blood Glucose and Beta-Ketone Monitoring System gets FDA clearance

Abbott today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its FreeStyle Precision Pro Blood Glucose and Beta-Ketone Monitoring System, an advanced blood glucose monitoring system designed to address the key needs of hospital customers: high accuracy, efficient operation, dual-band wireless access to immediate test results, and helps in the reduction of the risk of test strip cross-contamination.

26 Jul 2013

Infection control program and active surveillance can reduce incidence of impatient C. diff infections

A comprehensive infection control program combined with an active surveillance process significantly reduced the incidence of Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections in a long-term acute care hospital, according to a study published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality, the peer reviewed publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ).

10 Jul 2013

3 out of 20 GI endoscopes used for screening harbor unacceptable levels of "bio dirt"

Three out of 20 flexible gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopes used for screening were found to harbor unacceptable levels of "bio dirt" - cells and matter from a patient's body that could pose potential infection risk -- according to a study of endoscopes used at five hospitals across the U.S.

10 Jun 2013

Physicists demonstrate effect of cold atmospheric plasma, chemo therapy on brain tumour cells

For the first time, physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), biologists and physicians demonstrated the synergistic effect of cold atmospheric plasma - a partly ionized gas - and chemo therapy on aggressive brain tumour cells.

23 May 2013

RyMed's InVision-Plus neutral connector reduces CRBSIs by 33.3% at Johns Hopkins center

Research on different types of IV connectors led a Johns Hopkins cancer center to pilot a "neutral pressure" IV connector, according to a scientific presentation at the annual meeting of the Oncology Nursing Society.

22 May 2013

Stanford engineers develop new type of nanoscavenger for water purification

Among its many talents, silver is an antibiotic. Titanium dioxide is known to glom on to certain heavy metals and pollutants. Yet other materials do the same for salt. In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute, and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials. Engineers call them nanoscavengers. The hitch from a technical standpoint is that it is nearly impossible to reclaim the nanoscavengers once in the water.

16 May 2013