Infection Control
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New Study: Hospital Surfaces Contaminated After Disinfection
Pathogenic persistence can be a problem even after routine disinfection of high-touch surfaces.
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COVID Shot 54% Effective in Preventing Infection
Immunization with the updated COVID-19 vaccine provided approximately 54% increased protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to no receipt of the updated vaccine.
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Seeking Your Own Path? Consider IP Consulting
Infection preventionists who are competent and confident, who can dress sharply and speak well, and are adept and finding and fixing the “core” of a problem, may want to go out on their own and become a consultant.
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Still Standing: Antivaxx Groups Fail to Intimidate Hotez
On Feb. 1, 2022, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, was nominated, along with a colleague, for the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to design and distribute a nonproprietary, free COVID-19 vaccine to impoverished nations globally. The very next day Hotez received an email with the subject line: “You will hang for crimes against humanity.” Hotez recently documented this harassment and attempts at intimidation in his new book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning.
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The Paramedic’s Tale: From Agony to Activist
In March 2020, Karyn Bishof, BS, had the physical strength and mental wherewithal to be a paramedic at a fire department. Through the close encounters and hands-on care required for the job, Bishof was infected with SARS-CoV-2. Shortly thereafter began the chronic syndromes and the array of neurological and physical conditions collectively called long COVID. Despite her limitations, Bishof founded the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project and began getting information out to others.
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CDC Halts HICPAC to Review Masks, N95s, Long COVID
Citing pushback from stakeholder groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rejected new recommendations for air transmission precautions by its infection control advisory panel, asking it to consider with expert consultation this question: “Should N95 respirators be recommended for all pathogens that spread by the air?”
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APIC, SHEA Say Mandate COVID Shots for HCWs
Although the federal requirement that healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 has been lifted, a statement signed by the nation’s leading infection control groups and various other associations emphasizes the importance of mandatory vaccination by individual hospitals.
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APIC Continues Fight, Urging CMS to Upgrade ICP in Nursing Homes
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology continues to vigorously argue that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to significantly upgrade infection control in nursing homes.
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Welcome to the Briar Patch: Ethics of Antibiotic Stewardship
Applying ethical concepts to infection control and infectious disease issues, helps infection preventionists and infectious disease physicians reframe problems and develop “moral resilience” to make tough choices, said Olivia Kates, MD, MA, an infectious disease professor and director of research ethics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
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Healing HCWs — Including IPs — Is a National Priority for CDC, NIOSH
Burnout among all stripes of healthcare workers — including infection preventionists — has become a dire situation warranting national action. Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have released new research and emphasized available resources to raise awareness for an ambitious “system change” in healthcare delivery.