Health News: Preservation of Antibiotic Legislation ♦ Dissemination of staph infections in hospitals ♦ Prescribe exercise for people with HIV + more

Rep. Slaughter Reintroduces Preservation of Antibiotic Legislation  Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) reintroduced the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act , which would ban non-therapeutic uses of medically important antibiotics in food animal production. “My legislation would save eight critical classes of antibiotics from being routinely fed to healthy animals” Continue Reading

The dissemination of staph infections in hospitals  Wireless sensors recording human interactions explain the transmission of germs, such as MRSA, in hospitals, according to new research.Continue Reading

Experiments reveal key components of the body's machinery for battling deadly tularemia  Key molecules that trigger the immune system to launch an attack on the bacterium that causes tularemia have been discovered by researchers. Tularemia is a highly infectious disease that kills more than 30 percent of those infected, if left untreated. It can be readily transmitted by air, insect bites or through contaminated food or water Continue Reading

Along with antiretroviral medications, doctors may prescribe exercise for people with HIV  In addition to antiretroviral medications, people with HIV may soon begin receiving a home exercise plan from their doctors. Continue Reading

Scientists use DNA sequencing to trace the spread of drug-resistant TB Scientists have used DNA sequencing to trace the fatal spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis between patients in the UK. TB is spread by inhaling tiny airborne droplets from an infected person. Continue Reading

3/5/14 Health News: Hospitals Fall Short in Preventing Infections - Cancer Kills 50% More Men - Fertility Method That Raises Ethical Questions - Dog DNA Database

Many U.S. Hospitals Fall Short in Preventing Infections

Many U.S. hospitals don't follow rules meant to protect patients from preventable and potentially deadly infections, a new study shows. Researchers examined adherence to infection control policies in more than 1,600 intensive care units at 975 hospitals across the nation. They focused on three of the most common types of preventable infections in hospitals: central line-associated bloodstream infections; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; and ventilator-associated pneumonia.Continue Reading

Globally Cancer Kills 50% More Men Than Women

Figures published by Cancer Research UK reveal that more than 4.6 million men and 3.5 million women die of cancer worldwide every year, putting the global rate of cancer death among men (126 per 100,000) 50% higher than that of women (82 per 100,000). The figures also show every year, more than 14 million people worldwide find out they have cancer, with men 24% more likely to be among them than women. Continue reading

FDA Weighs Fertility Method That Raises Ethical Questions

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing a fertility procedure that involves combining the genetic material of three people to make a baby free of certain defects, a therapy that critics say is an ethical minefield and could lead to the creation of designer babies. The agency has asked a panel of experts to summarize current science to determine whether the approach — which has been performed successfully in monkeys by researchers in Oregon and in people more than a decade ago — is safe enough to be used again in people.Continue Reading

Dog Database to Limit Droppings

By developing a database of dog DNA linked to the dogs' owners, Naples hopes to eliminate dog waste from its sidewalks. "Now, when I walk the streets, the presences have greatly diminished," says Captain Enrico Del Gaudio from the Municipal Police, referring to droppings. "Before, it was like an obstacle course. Every day, a child would walk into school with a little gift under her shoe." Continue Reading

Hospital-Acquired Infections Rack Up $9.8 billion a Year

At least 15 people may have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from neurosurgery instruments that had first been used at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, N.H.

This is one example of our  nation's hospitals, nursing homes and outpatient clinics continue to fall short when it comes to performing necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection that can cause illness or death, new data from the Joint Commission show.

Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) cost $9.8 billion per year, with surgical site infections alone accounting for one-third of those costs, followed closely by ventilator-associated pneumonia at devices and supplies. Among ambulatory care operators, such as outpatient surgery centers, 37% failed to meet the same standard.  One out of five long-term care providers and one out of four home care providers did not meet guidelines for hand hygiene.

The Joint Commission accredits the quality and safety of healthcare operators. It released its ranking of standards that proved most problematic for healthcare companies in the first six months of 2013.   Preventing infection and hand washing were standards where ambulatory care, hospital and long-term-care providers struggled. There had been no improvement over the previous two years.

47% of hospitals did not comply with processes to reduce the risk of infections associated with medical equipment, devices and supplies. Among ambulatory care operators, such as outpatient surgery centers, 37% failed to meet the same standard.

Infections spread by medical devices or health care providers have long been identified as a major source of cost, illness and death. A growing body of research has sought to pinpoint the cost and harm from healthcare-associated infections and ways to prevent their spread.

Hand washing ranks highly as a way to prevent patients from acquiring infections in healthcare facilities, but compliance remains a stubborn problem among healthcare providers. Reasons for the lack of progress are unrealistic and inflated appraisal by providers of their own performance. Also time pressures on the staff or floor plans that tuck sinks in out-of-the-way locations.

Some organizations now deploy staff to secretly observe adherence and provide feedback to the organization or problematic individuals.

That type of accountability is necessary to improve performance, said Patricia McGaffigan, a nurse, chief operating officer and senior vice president of the National Patient Safety Foundation. “A true culture of safety will not tolerate these misses in hand hygiene and they will hold people accountable for not practicing their hand hygiene appropriately,” many organizations now deploy staff to secretly observe adherence and provide feedback to the organization—or problematic individuals.

One Company has come out with a badge for caregivers to wear. By using GPS the badge rings if the caregiver goes to a patient without stopping by the sink to wash their hands.