A person’s age, sex and location are correlated with the chance that they have a bloodstream infection that is resistant to antibiotics, according to a new study.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a non-profit hospital and medical research institution in Los Angeles, is setting new standards for quality and innovation in patient care by successfully introducing typing of Candida auris species – a procedure that could prove crucial in protecting patients from infection outbreaks caused by these microbes in healthcare settings.
Smart catheters, smart diapers or wound dressings: a new approach to wireless biosensors from Malmö University opens up options for more patient-controlled ways of infection detection.
A new class of antibiotics, based on proven drugs used in cancer treatment, is now being developed by researchers at Linköping University. They could be used against resistant bacteria.
A new publication discusses deep-ultraviolet (DUV) photonics for the disinfection of Sars-CoV-2 and its variants (Delta and Omicron) in the cryogenic environment.
Researchers have designed and synthesized analogs of a new antibiotic that is effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria, opening a new front in the fight against these infections.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the fast and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases in clinical settings. Harald Maier discusses the implementation of rapid molecular diagnostics in the central clinical diagnostics laboratory at Innklinikum Altötting and Mühldorf, highlighting how the use of PCR testing has benefitted the hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Researchers have developed an inexpensive, non-toxic coating for almost any fabric that decreases the infectivity of the virus that causes COVID-19 by up to 90 per cent.
A type of the antibiotic resistant superbug MRSA arose in nature long before the use of antibiotics in humans and livestock, which has traditionally been blamed for its emergence.
For many years, antibiotic consumption in France was at an alarming level, resulting in a worryingly constant increase in antibiotic resistance However, a newly-enforced strict national plan appears to be having effect.
A worldwide consortium aims to equip researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with cheap and accessible methods for sequencing large collections of bacterial pathogens.
The skin bacterium Staphylococcus aureus often develops antibiotic resistance. It can then cause infections that are difficult to treat. Researchers at the University of Bonn have uncovered an ingenious way in which a certain strain of Staphylococcus aureus protects itself against the important antibiotic vancomycin. The results have now been published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum.
Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Pulmobiotics S.L have created the first ‘living medicine’ to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria growing on the surfaces of medical implants. The researchers created the treatment by removing a common bacteria’s ability to cause disease and repurposing it to attack harmful microbes instead.
Infectious disease diagnostics are notoriously slow. The gold standard for laboratory diagnosis of bacterial and fungal infection involves growing the pathogen from a clinical specimen – an overnight event, or even longer. The healthcare focus is on improving the use of antibiotics for better patient outcomes and reducing the environmental pressures that drive antibiotic resistance. To impact…
An international research team from Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Jordan has developed a novel pathogen aptasensor swab designed to qualitatively detect, within five minutes, any methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) contamination that remains in a hospital isolation room or other surface following standard decontamination and cleaning.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a looming super threat – heralding a time when our drugs will no longer be effective against prevalent infections. Hospitals are already coping with treatment-resistant bacterial infections. Cognizant of the threat and thinking outside the box, BGU scientists and German and American colleagues have developed a pair of 'molecular tweezers' to destroy the biofilm…
Researchers have shown why hospital germs adhere strongly to surfaces from which water simply rolls off, but bind so poorly to surfaces that are easily wetted by water.
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a synthetic peptide that can make multidrug-resistant bacteria sensitive to antibiotics again when used together with traditional antibiotics, offering hope for the prospect of a combination treatment strategy to tackle certain antibiotic-tolerant infections.
University of Melbourne researchers are finding ways to beat dangerous superbugs with ‘resistance resistant’ antibiotics, and it could help in the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19) complications. As bacteria evolve, they develop strategies that undermine antibiotics and morph into ‘superbugs’ that can resist most available treatments and cause potentially lethal infections. The…
Light microscope for viewing microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi are commonly found in scientific laboratories. A research team from Furtwangen University, the University of Tübingen and Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH, Aalen, examined more closely their role as potential vectors of infectious pathogens. „Very little was known about this until now," explains the head of the…
Layering minute amounts of Manuka honey between layers of surgical mesh acts as a natural antibiotic that could prevent infection following an operation, new research has shown. Meshes are used to help promote soft tissue healing inside the body following surgery and are common in operations such as hernia repair. However, they carry with them an increased risk of infection as the bacteria are…
Research led by scientists from McMaster University has yielded a potent antimicrobial that works against the toughest infectious disease strains. The find could be the beginning of developing new therapeutics to combat drug-resistant infections. The discovery is important as it is directly related to the development of Staphylococcus aureus diseases, known popularly as staph infections, which…
Nosocomial infections cause more deaths than traffic accidents – a stunning discovery made in a recent German study. Worse: infectious diseases long thought eradicated in Europe, such as measles, tuberculosis (TB) and, more recently, syphilis, are also implicated. The increasing number of patients places an additional financial burden on healthcare. But – and this might be the good news –…
Scientists from Scotland are developing a low cost, rapid diagnostic sensor test which aims to show the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics within 45 minutes. Laboratory testing of samples can take up to two days and the new test aims to allow doctors to be able to prescribe the correct antibiotic to a patient for an infection more quickly. In a research paper published in the journal…
Martin Möckel and Dorothee Riedlinger, from the Charité Medical University Berlin, Emergency and Acute Medicine Campus Virchow-Klinikum, and Campus Charité-Mitte report on POCT testing in the A&E Department to screen for Staphylococcus aureus colonisation of the nose or throat. People colonised with Staphylococci are at increased risk of developing a nosocomial, i.e. hospital acquired…
Cigarette smoke can make MRSA bacterial strains more resistant to antibiotics, new research from the University of Bath has shown. In addition cigarette smoke exposure can make some strains of Staphylococcus aureus – a microbe present in 30-60% of the global population and responsible for many diseases, some fatal – more invasive and persistent, although the effect is not universal across all…
In view of the increase of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO), the WHO has declared antibiotic resistance one of the biggest threats to global health. MDROs have become a major problem particularly in hospitals. Professor Dr Georg Häcker from the Institute for Microbiology and Hygiene at the University Hospital Freiburg, explains some strategies to prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).
Insufficient knowledge of infection control, resulting in insufficient compliance, increases the risk of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and multiresistant pathogens that put patients at risk. At the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology e.V. (DGHM) in Göttingen, Professor Frauke Mattner, Senior Consultant at the Institute of Hygiene, Kliniken der…
Antiseptic soap, mouthwash, and nose ointment after hospital discharge reduced infections and infection-associated hospitalizations due to MRSA in high-risk patients. Hospital patients who have methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can prevent future MRSA infections by following a standard bathing protocol after discharge. The Changing Lives by Eradicating Antibiotic Resistance, or…
Scientists of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) have now dissected the precise molecular mechanisms of WAVE complex activation, occurring in a process involving separable, independent steps.
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an important adjunct to clinical diagnosis and procedural guidance in the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED), supported by literature demonstrating that its use can improve patient safety and expedite life-saving care. POCUS further helps to reduce costs and children’s exposure to ionizing radiation. Not only is POCUS ideally suited for…
Researchers have developed techniques to detect Lyme disease bacteria weeks sooner than current tests, allowing patients to start treatment earlier. The new techniques can detect an active infection with the Lyme bacteria faster than the three weeks it takes for the current indirect antibody-based tests, which have been a standard since 1994. Another advantage of the new tests is that a positive…
Sepsis remains a common and deadly condition that occurs when the body reacts to an infection in the bloodstream. Scientists know little about the early stages of the condition; however, physicians must act fast. Every hour that passes without one or more of the few treatments available increases the risk of death.
Alcohol-based hand sanitisers have been a mainstay in hospital hygiene for decades. But now, strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria show signs of overcoming these handwashing agents as well. Does this mean we should just stop sanitising our hands? Not so fast, say researchers from Melbourne – however, hospitals now need to re-think their strategies to protect their patients from deadly…
Novaerus, an Irish company specialising in non-chemical air disinfection using patented ultra-low energy plasma, announced the launch of the Defend 1050, a portable, easy to use device ideal for rapid disinfection and purification of the air in large spaces and high-risk situations such as operating theatres, ICUs, IVF labs, emergency and waiting rooms, and construction zones.
Room decontamination using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has proved to be a powerful solution for complete surface and final disinfection as well as outbreak management in modern hospital hygiene. Most final disinfections in hospitals are carried out using the scrub and wipe method, the specialist disinfection company Diop GmbH and Co. KG explains. ‘However,’ the firm adds, ‘this essential…
WHO’s first release of surveillance data on antibiotic resistance reveals high levels of resistance to a number of serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries. WHO’s new Global Antimicrobial Surveillance System (GLASS) reveals widespread occurrence of antibiotic resistance among 500 000 people with suspected bacterial infections across 22 countries.
Infections associated with osteosynthesis and prostheses are not to be underestimated: the infection rate is reported to be one to three percent after joint prosthetic surgery and five to 10 percent after osteosyntheses. ‘When you include later infections, the rate is twice as high,’ says Professor Andrej Trampuz, infectologist and Head of the Centre for Septic Surgery at the Centre of…
For years, medical investigators have tried and failed to develop vaccines for a type of staph bacteria associated with the deadly superbug MRSA. But a new study by Cedars-Sinai investigators shows how staph cells evade the body’s immune system, offering a clearer picture of how a successful vaccine would work.
Researchers at the Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center at Karolinska Institutet have developed an innovative way of hacking conducting plastics so as to prevent bacterial growth.
The association of biofilms with multi-drug resistance has highlighted the need for further understanding of biofilms and for anti-biofilm strategies.
Cancer researchers in the UK may have stumbled across a solution to reverse antibiotic drug resistance and stop infections like MRSA. Experts warn we are decades behind in the race against superbugs having already exploited naturally occurring antibiotics, with the creation of new ones requiring time, money and ingenuity. But a team of scientists at the University of Salford say they may have…
Research at the University of Konstanz has identified a molecule that allows the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa to inhibit its rival, Staphylococcus aureus. This might build the basis for the development of new antibiotics.
Nemus Bioscience and the University of Mississippi report significant anti-MRSA synergy data utilizing proprietary cannabinoid-based anti-infective platforms.
When it comes to automation, clinical microbiology has for many years lagged behind other laboratory disciplines. Robotics and computer processing revolutionized chemistry and hematology instruments decades ago. Meanwhile, clinical microbiologists continue to open specimen containers by hand and grow bacteria using methods familiar to microbiology’s founding fathers from the 19th century.
Adding UV light to standard cleaning cut transmission of 4 resistant bacteria by 30 percent
Airports are international travel hubs visited by large numbers of people. London Heathrow, for example, has an average of 205,400 travellers every day and saw 75 million people arriving and departing from all over the world in 2015. A study just published in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection suggest that international travellers can acquire antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and may…
Researchers have discovered that secondary infection with the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium (or “superbug”) often kills influenza patients because the flu virus alters the antibacterial response of white blood cells, causing them to damage the patients’ lungs instead of destroying the bacterium. The study suggests that inhibiting this response may help treat…
Clinicians around the world have long suspected that bacteraemia due to Staphylococcus aureus has a worse outcome in women compared to men, but direct evidence has been elusive. A study just published confirms that significantly more women than men diagnosed with Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) – a blood infection of the common bacteria – die within 30 days.
Hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is on the rise. Symptoms range from non-typical mild diarrhoea that can develop into pseudomembranous colitis up to a toxic megacolon, which often leads to death.
Thousands upon thousands of humans have taken and are continuing to take flight from wars, persecution and economic stress, seeking the chance of survival in European and other countries. They arrive not only physically exhausted, but also in mourning for those killed in their own countries, or during hellish journeys – therefore many also suffer unimaginable mental traumas. Clearly they need…
A research team led by University of Arkansas chemist Jingyi Chen and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences microbiologist Mark Smeltzer has developed an alternative therapeutic approach to fighting antibiotic-resistant infections.
Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have found that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen gives white blood cells a boost, better enabling them to respond to, ensnare and kill bacteria in laboratory experiments. Tamoxifen treatment in mice also enhances clearance of the antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogen…
In a hospital, what you can’t see could hurt you. Healthcare facilities continue to battle drug-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that loiter on surfaces even after patient rooms have been cleaned and can cause new, sometimes-deadly infections.
Half a million square feet. More than 350 beds. And tomorrow, they clean it all over again. Every day, Environmental Services (EVS) staff members work to disinfect every surface in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in preventing infections and keeping patients safe. Now, on top of scrubbing, spraying, mopping and wiping, they can add another action –…
MRSA is bad news. If you've never heard of it, here's what you need to know: It's pronounced MER-suh, it's a nasty bacterial infection and it can cause serious disease and death. Senior molecular biology major Jacob Hatch knows MRSA as the infection that took his dad's leg.
Surveillance, hygiene and infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, diagnosis of infectious diseases, use of antimicrobial medicines as well as reporting and information. Report: Michael Krassnitzer
For all the advances being made in this discipline, postoperative infections remain a great challenge for orthopaedists and trauma surgeons. More than 7,000 experts from around the globe are gathering in Prague for the 16th EFORT Congress to consult on ways to optimise prevention and therapy for these dreaded complications.
The USA’s President Barack Obama released a comprehensive plan in March to slow the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria, a multi-year, billion-dollar effort that includes getting doctors to stop over-prescribing antibiotics, developing new medications and rapid diagnostics, and real-time tracking of infection outbreaks. Report: Lisa Chamoff
Curetis AG, a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, announced the successful completion of the clinical and analytical CE performance evaluation of its next-generation Unyvero P55 Pneumonia Application. The upgraded cartridge will launch at the 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID, April 25 – 28, 2015 in Copenhagen, Denmark) and is…
Leading infectious diseases experts have released new guidance for healthcare facilities looking to establish precautions for visitors of patients with infectious diseases. The guidance looks to reduce the potential for healthcare visitors in spreading dangerous bacteria within the healthcare facility and community. The recommendations are published online in Infection Control & Hospital…
Early diagnosis and effective therapy of periprosthetic joint infections (PJI) remain a challenge for many physicians due to the complexity and heterogeneity of clinical symptoms. As individual solutions are needed, opportunities to discuss and exchange ideas are welcome, as clearly shown during the satellite symposium on the diagnosis and treatment of periprosthetic knee infections held at this…
CDI Europe, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE) and MEP Karin Kadenbach hosted an event at the European Parliament to highlight the urgent action needed to address the current issues relating to the management of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).
Is chlorhexidine still the best decolonisation method? For many decades decolonisation – be it selective intestinal, oral or skin decolonisation – has been the accepted procedure to prevent infections by endogenous bacteria. Report: Brigitte Dinkloh
Professor Tobias Welte MD, President of the 24th International Congress of the European Respiratory Society, gave EH some personal views on the symposium ‘New perspectives in the management of nosocomial pneumonia’. Interview: Ralf Mateblowski
In May, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that bacterial infections might lead to an increasing number of deaths because new resistance mechanisms threaten our ability to treat common infectious diseases.
‘Better hygiene’ is the frequently and loudly recommended panacea in the intensifying struggle against hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). However there are currently no evidence-based studies that evaluate the efficacy of additional hygiene measures.
Although nosocomial infections and medical accidents have declined, over 750 hospitals with the highest number of such cases now face penalties – amounting to an estimated $330 million a year – issued by Medicare.
Postoperative infections after knee or hip joint replacements are among the most feared complications in orthopaedic surgery. At the EFORT Congress in London current research was presented that provides new insights in this field: Fracture patients are especially vulnerable to infection. New biomarkers should improve early diagnosis of risky infections.
Ahead of the Irish Infection Prevention Control Conference to be held in Portlaoise on 16 May 2014, Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP), a Division of Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, is calling on Irish healthcare practitioners to consider the significant economic burden of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) on hospitals, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the wider…
A one-day course on Infection Prevention and Control (20 November. 9.30 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.) will focus on a vital issue at the Medica Education Conference 2013.
Decontaminating every patient in an intensive care unit is a far more effective approach to controlling infections in hospitals, according to a new study, Mark Nicholls reports.
‘This is a dramatic demonstration that medical genomics is no longer a technology of the future – it is a technology of the here and now' Report: Mark Nicholls
A recent webinar, hosted by the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, featured doctors Duane Newton of the University of Michigan and Susan Novak-Weekly of Kaiser Permanente.
There is no other way: We need a comprehensive approach, with everyone living up to their responsibility to combat this serious health threat in their respective areas. The most basic instinct of every living organism is survival. What selects one organism or species over another, in fact, is its capacity to withstand any kind of adverse condition that comes its way – what scientist Herbert…
As in so many European countries, nosocomial infections have hit the headlines in Germany over and over again in recent years – as when three premature babies died in a Bremen neonatal clinic in 2011.
Infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) doubled at academic medical centers in the U.S. between 2003 and 2008, according to a report published in the August issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Alere introduced its new PBP2a test, a rapid, lateralflow assay that detects the PBP2a protein found in MRSA directly from Staphylococcus aureus isolates. It is a costeffective, targeted approach to identifying MRSA, the firm points out. Providing results in five minutes, the assay uses samples from cultures (wound, skin, urine, etc.) and has builtin quality controls on every test strip.
With complementary portfolios, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and B. Braun have been working together since mid- May to develop a complete one-stop system for the decontamination of MRSA patients
In Europe, nosocomial infections cause about 25,000 deaths every year. Copper has strong antibiotic effects and may reduce hospital acquired infections.
While researching bovine mastitis (an S. aureus infection that occurs in the cows’ udders), researchers led by Dr Mark Holmes at the University of Cambridge, UK, identified a new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which occurs both in human and dairy cow populations.
Cold plasma jets could be a safe, effective alternative to antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant infections, says a study published this week in the January issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology. The team of Russian and German researchers showed that a ten-minute treatment with low-temperature plasma was not only able to kill drug-resistant bacteria causing wound infections in rats but…
Superantigens, the toxins produced by staphylococcus bacteria, are more complex than previously believed, reveals a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg in an article published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Their discovery shows that the body’s immune system can cause more illnesses than realised.
A decade ago the battle against hospital-acquired MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strain) infections appeared to be lost, or at least without end. However, today, we see very important science-to-business achievements in this field. Report: Rostislav Kuklik
That computer keyboards harbour bacteria is well known. Studies have determined that 3,295 germs accumulate per square inch on a standard keyboard. By comparison, a sanitary toilet has 49 germs per square inch.
Post-operative wound infection occurs after an estimated 17% of surgical operations – sometimes with devastating consequences for the patient. The list of preventive measures is manifold and long. However, one strategy is increasingly moving into the spotlight: the use of antibacterial coated sutures. Ethicon Products is at the cutting edge in this field. Sandra Rasche, head of this Business…
In hospitals, MRSA is considered Public Enemy Nr 1, and the increase in nosocomial infections, worldwide, has drawn universal attention to this ‘superbug’. However, Staphylococcus aureus is not alone – other pathogens are proving their resistance to antibiotics, in the last decade, gram-negative enterobacteria, which form the enzyme extended-spectrum beta-lactimases (ESBL), have joined the…
Hospital acquired infections are the focus for the 3rd International Day for Fighting Infection, being marked on St. George’s Day (23 April), as experts meet in Florence to look at the evolution of infection control in hospitals.
In November 2009 about 150 leading infectious disease researchers gathered in Berlin for the National Forum for Innovation in Medicine. During the meeting, Professor Antoni Torres MD (Hospital Clinic-Ciberes, University of Barcelona) gave Meike Lerner insights into community acquired pneumonia research projects and findings
The temporal artery thermometer was developed in response to the clinical requirements for a truly non-invasive, accurate method of taking temperature. GE now offers, in Germany and Middle-East, the Exergen handheld temporal artery thermometer TAT 5000, which provides several benefits including accuracy, ease of use and cost effectiveness.
The first strain of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) was isolated in the 1960s, and its presence was reported worldwide in the late 1990s. A higher incidence of MRSA was noted in communities, at the dawn of the new millennium, leading to two basic MRSA strains being differentiated - CA-MRSA (community acquired MRSA) and HA-MRSA (healthcare associated MRSA). In clinical practice…
According to ECD statistics for Europe, three million cases of nosocomial infections occur annually, and 50,000 are fatal. Evelina Tacconelli MD PhD (below) is Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy. Her scientific focus is on epidemiology, clinical and therapeutic aspects of nosocomial infections and infection control policies aimed to…
How the PCR-Test works The MRSA bacterium contains an additional 'mobile gene cassette' (SCCmec cassette) in its genetic makeup, which contains the so-called mecA gene. All beta-Lactam antibiotics such as Methicillin are therefore no longer effective. The LightCycler MRSA Advanced Test facilitates the detection of all five known SCCmec types within 85 to 100 minutes. This test principle is based…
Researchers from East Kilbride, Glasgow, UK, recently presented their results of a study saying that only one extra cleaner in a hospital working Monday to Friday can reduce the number of MRSA infections.
A rapid, portable, point-of-care test for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), developed by TwistDx based on a new way of detecting DNA, was one of nine products chosen from approximately 250 applications submitted to the Smart Solutions for HCAI programme, an NHS project that aims to identify innovative technologies with the potential to fight hospital bugs.
USA - Bacteria can survive weak solutions of some disinfectants, by ridding their systems of the cleaning chemicals and thus boosting their resistance, which causes greater hygiene problems, according to a study published in Microbiology.
To fight hospital infections and increasingly resistant bacteria Normeditec has developed Toul Mobile Laminar Airflow
First emerging at the beginning of the '60s, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a nosocomial infection - healthcare associated MRSA (haMRSA) - has become an increasingly prevalent infection control problem in many countries.
Hospital infections are immensely dangerous. Toul Meditech has therefore developed a new mobile laminar airflow system which can be used in every operating room in addition to the existing ventilation system.
A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.
They are one of the major threats in today's hospital: tiny pathogens that hide out in catheters, in ventilation tubes, on instruments or on the keyboards of medical technological equipment only waiting to attack patients whose immune system is already weakened. This week, EH Online will take a closer look at nosocomial infections, their causes, their effects and the available ways and means to…
As nosocomial, or healthcare-related infections (HAIs), continue to escalate in the US, and protocols to manage this problem remain complex and confusing, surveillance healthcare IT systems offer hope to gain control of the situation. These offer the potential for data to be uniformly collected, quantified, and assessed. How rapidly they will be implemented enough is unknown.
Among the major changes to operating theatres (OT) in recent years is the introduction of information technology (IT) equipment.
That tap water carries pathogens such as legionella or pseudomonas aeruginosa is well known, writes Heidi Heinhold. However, new research results show that bacteria that were previously considered non-pathogenic, such as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS), can be present in hospital water and are transmitted by the water
By Professor Jan Kluytmans MD, of the Microbiology and Infection Control Laboratory, Amphia Hospital, Breda
The first of its kind in Europe, the €12 million BaSysBio (Bacillus Systems Biology) project, initiated in December, is headquartered in France, but involves 15 top European research organisations, as well as an Australian university.
The methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common causes of life threatening infections among hospital patients. What makes the bacterium that dangerous is the fact, that due to unspecific symptoms and long lasting testing procedures its detection takes too long. A new test that delivers results in just five hours now offers the possibility of a MRSA screening for…
As MRSA affects about 300,000 patients and costs UK £1 billion annually, the country's public services union demands the return of in-house cleaners. Report: Peter Howieson
Researchers demonstrated the effectiveness and safety of a new drug for treating bloodstream and heart infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.