Infection Control News and Research

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New fungal defensin, plectasin, possesses as much power as penicillin

A peptide identified in a fungus found in northern European pine forests possesses as much power as penicillin as well as vancomycin, according to an international team of researchers.

12 Oct 2005

Greasing the gears that drive the interferon signal

Interferon -- a critical protein that mediates the body's defense against a wide variety of infectious agents and tumors -- may soon have greater therapeutic value as the result of a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

3 Oct 2005

One in four cases of hospital MRSA bacteraemia occurs in new arrivals

One in four cases of MRSA blood stream infection in hospital occur in patients who have just arrived from the community. These patients tend to be older and have been in hospital before.

10 Sep 2005

Ambulances - weak link in the fight against MRSA

Targets, time and money pressures create a lethal cocktail that could allow superbugs to thrive in our ambulances said UNISON, the UK's largest health union, this week.

6 Sep 2005

Study of the 2003 outbreak of SARS reveals fears

A new study of the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Toronto shows how fears of a virulent contagious disease can affect health-care providers and reveals that some of those surveyed who experienced SARS-like symptoms during the outbreak still went to work.

1 Sep 2005

Australian lambskin pressure care products granted FDA approval in the U.S.

Export opportunities into the lucrative American market have been thrown wide open for a unique South Australian range of medical lambskin products.

11 Aug 2005

Ethanol treatment may be instrumental in fighting IV-based infections

Inserted through the skin and into a vein, long-term intravascular devices such as IV catheters deliver to patients a range of life-saving medications, nutrition and fluids, among other uses.

11 Aug 2005

Millions of hospital patients could be spared the humiliation and infection risk that come with a urine-collecting catheter

...a new study finds, if hospitals used a simple reminder system to prompt doctors to remove the devices after two days.

29 Jul 2005

NHS pays damages to woman who contracted MRSA

A National Health hospital in the UK has been forced to pay damages to a patient who contracted the superbug MRSA.

23 Jul 2005

Health-care officials should work collaboratively with consumer groups to develop report cards on hospital infection rates

There's a growing appetite for infection-control report cards that the public could use in selecting hospitals and that hospitals could use to lower infection rates: Thirty-nine states have introduced legislation, and six have passed laws requiring reporting of certain data. In Texas, legislators created an advisory panel in their June session to study the issue.

20 Jul 2005

Doctors showed the lowest compliance levels and the smallest improvement in hand washing study

Hand washing among healthcare staff working in a large urban hospital improved by an average of 32 per cent after a six-week hygiene programme, according to a paper in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

20 Jul 2005

Shocking revelation - thousands get infected in hospitals in Pennsylvania

A report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council has revealed that more than 11,000 people contacted some form of infection in Pennsylvania hospitals last year, and nearly 1,800 died from them.

14 Jul 2005

Arizona has three confirmed cases of West Nile in horses

A third case of West Nile Virus has been discovered in a horse near Lavine, Arizona.

7 Jul 2005

Hospital kept presence of Legionnaires' disease a secret

A Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center battled for over a year to treat Legionnaires' disease bacteria in its water pipes but omitted telling patients or employees to take precautions.

21 Jun 2005

Northern Ireland is leading the way with a strategy aimed at reducing the impact of respiratory disease

'A Healthier Future: A Strategic Framework for Respiratory Conditions', is a consultation document which sets out a 10-year framework for preventing respiratory disease, and for improving treatment and care for people with respiratory conditions.

9 Jun 2005

Hospital with superbug was given lowest infection-control rating last year

The NHS Trust Stoke Mandeville Hospital, which is presently at the centre of a superbug scandal, was given the lowest infection-control rating in a recent set of NHS performance indicators.

8 Jun 2005

12 deaths creates new infection scare in UK hospitals

There have been some 300 cases of Clostridium difficile in 18 months at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, in Aylesbury, Bucks, a national centre for spinal injury, and it is thought that the infection was an "actual or probable" factor in 12 deaths in that time.

6 Jun 2005

Embarrassing hospital row resolved - everyone takes bibles home with them

The University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, in the continuing row over whether bibles and other religious literature left at the side of patients beds constitute a risk of MRSA infections, now says it will give the ward bibles to patients to take home.

6 Jun 2005

God awful row over hospital bibles link to MRSA bug

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust are on the verge of a very embarrassing public relations disaster after the trust's chaplain stalled a request from Gideons International to be allowed to replace patients' bedside Bibles.

5 Jun 2005

Fungal contamination of saline-filled breast implants is readily preventable

The key steps are to use closed systems for filling the devices and to adhere to the strict moisture control and operating room ventilation standards in force at major hospitals.

3 Jun 2005