Now available: ESBL-Tool kit for handling beta-lactamase resistant Enterobacteriaceae
Doctor Véronique Mondain from Nice explains the ambitious project she and colleagues have put in place to help combat the rise of these resistant pathogens.
Infections
Peering into the abyss
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.
Respect it, don’t fear it
The current ebola outbreak in West Africa, which began in December 2013 in Guinea and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Congo, is considered the largest ebola outbreak ever in West Africa. As of today more than 2,600 cases were reported and more than 1,400 people have died of the disease.
Innovation: UK hand-held device could challenge ELISA’s position
UK scientists are developing a hand-held testing device for use at the point of care and provide a disease diagnosis on the same day.
News • Study
Sepsis cases are rising
Sepsis kills around a hundred and thirty patients daily In Germany alone. This systemic disease is mostly caused by bacterial pathogens, and less frequently by fungal organisms or parasites. The delayed diagnoses result in high mortality. Professor Dr Frank M Brunkhorst of the Centre of Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC), at Jena University Hospital, Germany, is seeking strategies to combat such…
Is the Ebola virus a real threat for Europe and the US?
Frost & Sullivan Life Sciences Senior Research Analyst Sriram Radhakrishnan discusses the available screening options to enable early detection of the virus.
Redefining diagnostics
New molecular technologies to screen drug-resistant TB are replacing, for example, culture-based tests that are slow, require experienced personnel, and need stringent microbiological safety precautions.
Metal attacks norovirus head on
The Norovirus, which affects around 267 million people and is attributed to cause over 200,000 deaths annually (usually among the very young, elderly or immune-suppressed, or in 3rd world areas) can be rapidly destroyed by copper and copper alloys, scientists at the United Kingdom’s University of Southampton confirm.
Hygiene managers are not enough
‘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.
Blown Away!
Even though a lot of us don’t do it, let’s say you know that washing your hands is the first, and the best thing, you can do to stop sharing nasty bugs that are especially dangerous for patients.
Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease requires a strong response
New cases and deaths attributable to Ebola virus disease (EVD) continue to be reported by the Ministries of Health in the three West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
NICE sets new guidelines
Pointing out that it is unacceptable that some 300,000 people become adversely infected while being in the care of the UK’s National Health Service every year, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care, has launched a new set of quality standards.
Nosocomial infections
More than four million people acquire a healthcare associated infection (HAI) in the European Union (EU) annually; of these 37,000 die as a direct consequence of the infection, according to a European Centre for Disease Control 2008 estimate.
Pay-for-performance bites deep
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.
Poor management and overcrowding exacerbate MERS outbreak
“The Saudi Arabian government’s response to the new virulent Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has recently been criticized, following high-level dismissals within the Saudi state healthcare service. Criticism has been leveled at the slowness of the government’s response to the outbreak, as well as in-fighting between physicians", says Andrew Thompson, Ph.D., GlobalData’s…
Delayed diagnoses result in high mortality
Sepsis kills around 130 patients daily In Germany alone. This systemic disease is mostly caused by bacterial pathogens, and less frequently by fungal organisms or parasites. Professor Dr Frank M Brunkhorst of the Centre of Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC), at Jena University Hospital, Germany, is seeking strategies to combat such scary figures.
Infections in joint surgery: high risk for fracture patients
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.
‘Huge progress’ in the ICU
You’ll find Élie Azoulay everywhere during this year’s International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM).
Improved catheters and biopatch
Patients in intensive care units in hospitals across the UK are benefiting from a combination of new techniques and technology with changes in clinical practice that help to dramatically cut incidences of infection.
Transplants under silent attack
The number of patients treated with implants – from cardiac pacemakers, heart valves and vascular implants to artificial hips and knees – is rising worldwide.
French bio-terrorism network of labs
Born in the USA out of the anthrax scare that followed the 9/11 attacks, the formation of a network of laboratories kept on 24/7 alert against potential bio-terrorism was introduced in France at the end of 2001.
Tackling MRSA
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.
Is copper preventing nosocomial infections?
The properties of copper in helping prevent nosocomial infections were debated this October at the Infection Prevention 2013 conference, when Professor Tom Elliott, Consultant Microbiologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, addressed the question: ‘Can the use of copper help prevent infection?’
Goodbye to needlestick injuries
All hospital professions can be affected by injuries resulting from cuts and needlesticks, whether they are doctors, nurses or cleaners.
MERS-CoV: Global action needed?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently formed an international emergency committee to decide whether Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) should be ascribed Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) status, amid reports of a lack of information from the worst affected countries.