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Emerging Infectious Diseases
Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) is a peer-reviewed, monthly journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It offers the latest scientific information on emerging infectious diseases and trends. Emerging Infectious Diseases is freely available to the public as Diamond Open Access. For more on EID, visit https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid.
Factors other than antimicrobial activity of soaps and antiseptic agents used for hand hygiene by health personnel play a role in compliance with recommendations. Hand hygiene products differ considerably in acceptance by hospital personnel. If switching from a nonmedicated soap to an antiseptic agent or increased use of an existing antiseptic agen
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Broad use of fluoroquinolones has been followed by emergence of resistance, which has been due mainly to chromosomal mutations in genes encoding the subunits of the drugs' target enzymes, DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, and in genes that affect the expression of diffusion channels in the outer membrane and multidrug-resistance efflux systems. Resi
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Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is pneumonia in patients who have been on mechanical ventilation for > or =48 hours. VAP is most accurately diagnosed by quantitative culture and microscopy examination of lower respiratory tract secretions, which are best obtained by bronchoscopically directed techniques such as the protected specimen brush an
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Certain bacteria dispersed by health-care workers can cause hospital infections. Asymptomatic health-care workers colonized rectally, vaginally, or on the skin with group A streptococci have caused outbreaks of surgical site infection by airborne dispersal. Outbreaks have been associated with skin colonization or viral upper respiratory tract infec
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Wound site infections are a major source of postoperative illness, accounting for approximately a quarter of all nosocomial infections. National studies have defined the patients at highest risk for infection in general and in many specific operative procedures. Advances in risk assessment comparison may involve use of the standardized infection ra
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Nosocomial bloodstream infections are a leading cause of death in the United States. If we assume a nosocomial infection rate of 5%, of which 10% are bloodstream infections, and an attributable mortality rate of 15%, bloodstream infections would represent the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Because most risk factors for dying af
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Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is the most common nosocomial infection. Each year, more than 1 million patients in U.S. acute-care hospitals and extended-care facilities acquire such an infection; the risk with short-term catheterization is 5% per day. CAUTI is the second most common cause of nosocomial bloodstream infection, a
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In a surgical intensive care unit, the 1996-1997 incidence of central catheter-associated bloodstream infections exceeded that of hospitals participating in the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System. Interventions were implemented, and a cost-benefit analysis was done that led to hiring a vascular catheter care nurse. Subsequent outcom
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Technologic advances in surgery include a trend toward less invasive procedures, driven by potential benefits to patients and by health-care economics. These less invasive procedures provide infection control personnel opportunities for direct involvement in outcomes measurement.
Water is used in vast quantities in health-care premises. Many aquatic microorganisms can survive and flourish in water with minimal nutrients and can be transferred to vulnerable hospital patients in direct (e.g., inhalation, ingestion, surface absorption) and indirect ways (e.g., by instruments and utensils). Many outbreaks of infection or pseudo
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The increasing number of persons >65 years of age form a special population at risk for nosocomial and other health care-associated infections. The vulnerability of this age group is related to impaired host defenses such as diminished cell-mediated immunity. Lifestyle considerations, e.g., travel and living arrangements, and residence in nursing h
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As molecular techniques for identifying and detecting microorganisms in the clinical microbiology laboratory have become routine, questions about the cost of these techniques and their contribution to patient care need to be addressed. Molecular diagnosis is most appropriate for infectious agents that are difficult to detect, identify, or test for
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Supporting FilesPublic Domain
Pfaller, M. A. (2001). Molecular approaches to diagnosing and managing infectious diseases: practicality and costs. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15104
Pfaller, M. A.. Molecular approaches to diagnosing and managing infectious diseases: practicality and costs. 2001. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15104.
Pfaller, M. A. Molecular approaches to diagnosing and managing infectious diseases: practicality and costs. 2001, Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15104.
Vancomycin and ampicillin resistance in clinical Enterococcus faecium strains has developed in the past decade. Failure to adhere to strict infection control to prevent the spread of these pathogens has been well established. New data implicate the use of specific classes of antimicrobial agents in the spread of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VR
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One reason antimicrobial-drug resistance is of concern is its economic impact on physicians, patients, health-care administrators, pharmaceutical producers, and the public. Measurement of cost and economic impact of programs to minimize antimicrobial-drug resistance is imprecise and incomplete. Studies to describe and evaluate the problem will have
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Managed-care organizations have a unique opportunity, still largely unrealized, to collaborate with health-care providers and epidemiologists to prevent health care-associated infections. Several attributes make these organizations logical collaborators for infection control programs: they have responsibility for defined populations of enrollees an
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Platt, R., and B. Caldwell Can managed health care help manage health care-associated infections?. 2001, Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15111.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a worldwide disease, and nosocomial transmission is known to occur. Authoritative preventive guidelines such as the one developed by the Centers for Disease Control have been published, but the expenses for implementing them can be prohibitive. Each country needs to develop its own protocol to prevent nosocomial transmission of
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Hong, S. W. Preventing nosocomial Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in international settings. 2001, Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15096.
Antimicrobial-drug resistance in hospitals is driven by failures of hospital hygiene, selective pressures created by overuse of antibiotics, and mobile genetic elements that can encode bacterial resistance mechanisms. Attention to hand hygiene is constrained by the time it takes to wash hands and by the adverse effects of repeated handwashing on th
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Supporting FilesPublic Domain
Weinstein, R. A. (2001). Controlling antimicrobial resistance in hospitals: infection control and use of antibiotics. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15083
Weinstein, R. A.. Controlling antimicrobial resistance in hospitals: infection control and use of antibiotics. 2001. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15083.
Weinstein, R. A. Controlling antimicrobial resistance in hospitals: infection control and use of antibiotics. 2001, Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15083.
Strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which had been largely confined to hospitals and long-term care facilities, are emerging in the community. The changing epidemiology of MRSA bears striking similarity to the emergence of penicillinase-mediated resistance in S. aureus decades ago. Even though the origin (hospital or the
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Nosocomial viral respiratory infections cause considerable illness and death on pediatric wards. Common causes of these infections include respiratory syncytial virus and influenza. Although primarily a community pathogen, rhinovirus also occasionally results in hospitalization and serious sequelae. This article reviews effective infection control
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Supporting FilesPublic Domain
Goldmann, D. A. (2001). Epidemiology and prevention of pediatric viral respiratory infections in health-care institutions. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15097
Goldmann, D. A.. Epidemiology and prevention of pediatric viral respiratory infections in health-care institutions. 2001. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15097.
Goldmann, D. A. Epidemiology and prevention of pediatric viral respiratory infections in health-care institutions. 2001, Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15097.
The Evaluation of Processes and Indicators in Infection Control (EPIC) study assesses the relationship between hospital care and rates of central venous catheter-associated primary bacteremia in 54 intensive-care units (ICUs) in the United States and 14 other countries. Using ICU rather than the patient as the primary unit of statistical analysis p
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Supporting FilesPublic Domain
Kritchevsky, S. B., Braun, B. I., Wong, E. S., Solomon, S. L., Steele, L., Richards, C., & Simmons, B. P. (2001). Impact of hospital care on incidence of bloodstream infection: the evaluation of processes and indicators in infection control study. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15084
Kritchevsky, S. B., B. I. Braun, E. S. Wong, S. L. Solomon, L. Steele, C. Richards, and B. P. Simmons. Impact of hospital care on incidence of bloodstream infection: the evaluation of processes and indicators in infection control study. 2001. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15084.
Kritchevsky, S. B., et al. Impact of hospital care on incidence of bloodstream infection: the evaluation of processes and indicators in infection control study. 2001, Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/15084.
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