With the help of a vomiting machine, a new study has provided the first evidence that vomiting can send virus particles similar to those of the human norovirus airborne. The study provides the first evidence that vomiting could aerosolize the norovirus. North Carolina State University researchers state that their study, published in PLOS ONE, will have implications for better understanding … Read More
Home-brewed opiates serious public health concern – University of Alberta
For centuries, alcohol fermentation using sugar and yeast has been commonplace throughout the globe. Synthetic biologists have now gone much further. They have completed the key steps to turn yeast cells into microbial factories that can convert sugar into morphine. There is potential to produce other drugs, such as antibiotics and cancer therapies. In a recently published paper in Nature … Read More
Noroviruses Can Spread by Air
Noroviruses, a group of viruses responsible for more than half of global gastroenteritis cases, can spread by air up to several meters from an infected person according to a new study by Université Laval researchers. The discovery, details of which are presented in the latest issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggests that measures applied in hospitals during gastroenteritis outbreaks may … Read More
Latest Outbreak Reminds Us of Reprocessing Imperatives, Prompts New and Pending Guidance
Following yet another highly publicized patient exposure to dangerous pathogens via contaminated endoscopes, the healthcare and sterile processing communities are examining their processes, re-evaluation… Read More: Latest Outbreak Reminds Us of Reprocessing Imperatives, Prompts New and Pending Guidance
New funding will support nationwide focus on substance misuse
University of Alberta (Edmonton) Substance misuse and addiction is a complex health and social issue that affects as many as 21 per cent of Canadians. It transcends social, economic and geographic borders. And though there are many interventions and treatment strategies known to have positive results, few have been widely implemented across the country. That will change with the announcement … Read More
Study Finds Hospitals are Not Doing All They Can to Prevent C diff Infections
Nearly half of American hospitals aren’t taking key steps to prevent a kind of gut infection that kills nearly 30,000 people annually and sickens hundreds of thousands more — despite strong evidence that such steps work, according to a new study. While nearly all of the 398 hospitals in the study use a variety of measures to protect their patients … Read More
Virology powerhouse – University of Alberta
Michael Houghton “Back in the ’60s and ’70s, we thought we had pretty much conquered infectious disease,” wryly notes Michael Houghton, Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Virology at the U of A. But then came HIV and SARS, new pandemic influenza strains and an awakening to the damage wrought by hepatitis viruses. Any sense of complacency was shattered, and … Read More
Can Humans Get Norovirus From Their Dogs?
Human norovirus may infect our canine companions, according to research published online April 1 in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. That raises the possibility of dog-to-human transmission, said first author Sarah Caddy, VetMB, PhD, MRCVS, a veterinarian and PhD student at the University of Cambridge, and Imperial College, London, UK. Norovirus is … Read More
Hoarding Disorder and the DSM V
Hoarding disorder is the name of a psychiatric condition that produces symptoms such as the compulsive urge to acquire unusually large amounts of possessions and an inability to voluntarily get rid of those possessions, even when they have no practical usefulness or monetary value. Until recently, mental health guidelines in the United States viewed hoarding as a specific form of … Read More
Impact of Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring Systems: A Review of Case Studies
It is universally acknowledged that adequate hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to prevent transmission of infections. There have been many strategies developed to help improve hand hygiene compliance. The most effective of such strategies include monitoring hand hygiene behaviors and implementing performance-based interventions. This Whitepaper reviews both the clinical and financial impact to the facility by: … Read More