Category: Infection Control

5 medical groups release new strategies for HAI prevention

Experts from five national medical groups partnered to revise infection prevention strategies in acute care settings, which were published July 11 in the Journal of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 

The air monitor that can detect COVID-19 in just 5 minutes

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have built an air sensory system capable of detecting any of the known COVID variants that may be inside a room in real-time, according to a July 10 news release. 

US physicians worried about enterovirus flare-ups

As bundles of severe echovirus infections pop up in at least three countries, U.S. infectious diseases experts are seeing a small increase in enterovirus cases, especially among children, NBC News reported July 6. 

CLABSI-free for 300 days: How a Virginia children's hospital did it

Falls Church, Va.-based Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital eliminated central line-associated bloodstream infections among its patients for 300 days during 2021 and 2022. 

MRSA guidelines revised for first time in 9 years

Cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, rose 41 percent during the pandemic and account for around 10 percent of hospital-associated infections. Its pandemic-induced rise has led experts to revise infection prevention …

US confirms 1st local malaria cases since 2003

Twenty years after the U.S. noted eight locally acquired malaria cases, Florida has confirmed four malaria infections and Texas has seen one in the last two months, the CDC said June 26. 

Boston hospital unit reinstates masking amid COVID-19 outbreak

Officials at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are monitoring a COVID-19 outbreak among patients and staff members.

How Mount Sinai Beth Israel keeps 3 HAI rates hovering at zero

When it comes to healthcare-acquired infections, a perfect score is zero. But while trying to keep HAIs — such as central line bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and Clostridioides difficile infections — as low as poss…

How Cedars-Sinai is prepping teams ahead of the next pandemic

Teams at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai’s Marina del Rey Hospital will soon undergo emergency department drills that will focus on infection control and prevention efforts if — or when  — a patient shows up with symptoms indicative of a highly con…

Physician viewpoint: Don't abandon hospital mask policies, make them strategic

Physicians from Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston published a dissenting opinion in the New England Medical Journal on the widespread removal of mask policies in medical settings ac…