Misc Emerging Topics

News Scan for Jun 18, 2013

CDC reports 12 more cases in berry-linked hepatitis outbreak

Twelve more hepatitis A infections are under investigation in a hepatitis A outbreak linked to a frozen berry blend, raising the number of suspected cases to 118, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday.

Berry-linked hepatitis infections
Pertussis booster poll
Israel polio update
Q fever in Brazil

FBI arrests suspect, confirms ricin in letters to officials

The FBI today confirmed the presence of the toxin ricin in letters intended for President Obama and other officials this week, following the agency's arrest of a Mississippi man yesterday in connection with the mailings.

Robert Roos

GSK announces support for clinical trial transparency

(CIDRAP News) – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced that it has signed on in support of the AllTrials campaign, a push by scientists and medical groups to urge drug makers and other researchers to register clinical trials and fully disclose the results.

Lisa Schnirring

NEWS SCAN: FSIS's foreign meat inspections, more fungal infections, severe Staph pneumonia, antibacterial bath benefits

Jan 28, 2013

NIH announces mapping of human bacterial population

(CIDRAP News) – The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced the first major results of a 5-year project to identify and analyze all the bacterial species carried by healthy humans, revealing, among other things, that nearly all healthy people routinely harbor pathogens.

Robert Roos

NEWS SCAN: Flu vaccine and sickle cell, malaria in early pregnancy, MMR vaccine reactions, contact precautions and dementia

Dec 13, 2011

CDC issues new guidance on catheter-linked blood infections

(CIDRAP News) Federal health officials today released a lengthy set of new guidelines for preventing bloodstream infections in patients with intravenous catheters, a problem that's estimated to cost the nation billions of dollars a year.

Robert Roos

Audits find infection control gaps at ambulatory surgical centers

(CIDRAP News) An observational survey of infection control practices in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) in three states found that two thirds of the centers had at least one lapse and nearly 18% had three or more gaps in five reviewed areas, researchers from two federal agencies reported yesterday.

Lisa Schnirring

CDC reports drop in healthcare-related blood infections

(CIDRAP News) Reports from 17 states show that one major type of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) dropped 18% in the first half of 2009, suggesting that the healthcare system is making progress in the battle against infections in hospitals, national health officials announced today.

Robert Roos