>>Drug-resistant swine flu seen in Danish patient

For the first time, a case of swine flu has proven resistant to Tamiflu — the leading pharmaceutical weapon against the new virus, international health officials said Monday.

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It appears the strain developed in a patient who was taking the drug to prevent illness, and it has not spread to others. That’s a much better scenario than if the patient had not been taking Tamiflu and picked up a drug-resistant strain already spreading through the public, said Bridges, associate director for science in the CDC’s influenza division.

Full Article: here.

>>Mexican swine flu victims were young, some healthy

Swine flu patients in Mexico were young and many were healthy before developing severe infections, doctors reported on Monday.

The first detailed studies of the outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 influenza show the epidemic in Mexico resembled the early stages of other pandemics, and showed there is no way yet to predict who will become severely ill from the virus.

Full Article: here.

>>Swine flu parties ‘a bad idea’

Throwing “swine flu parties” in an attempt to get immunity against the virus while it is a fairly mild form is not a good idea, doctors say.

Reports have emerged of people intentionally mixing with friends who have flu.

Their reasoning is that it is best to be infected before the winter when the virus could become more deadly.

But public health expert Dr Richard Jarvis said such behaviour could undermine the fight against swine flu.

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But he added that if people actively sought to get flu, health services may not be able to act in the same way as they are doing now.

The approach to date – although it is changing in the areas such as Birmingham and London which have the largest outbreaks – has been based on containment.

Full Article: here.

>>Spread of Swine Flu Puts Japan in Crisis Mode

On Thursday, confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu virus in Japan reached 279, centering on Kobe and the neighboring city of Osaka, in western Japan. Like many other countries, Japan has reported mild flu cases and no deaths. Still, it is in crisis mode: more than 4,800 schools have been closed in the region, medical services are swamped, and testing laboratories are working around the clock.

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The outbreak has come as a particular shock for hygiene-obsessed Japan, where hand-washing is religiously taught in schools, children play in sanitized sandboxes, and everything from underwear to ballpoint pens comes with supposed antibacterial properties.

Full Article: here.

>>Mexico City ends swine flu alert, no cases in week

Mexico City lowered its swine flu alert level from yellow to green on Thursday, and the mayor said “we can relax” now that there have been no new infections for a week.

City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said nobody has been hospitalized with respiratory infections in the last three days, and no swine flu cases have been confirmed since May 14. “We are seeing a 96.1 percent drop in cases, and that’s why we are dropping the alert level to green today,” Ahued said.

Full Article: here.

>>7 more swine flu cases confirmed in Canada, all mild

The number of Canadians confirmed to have suffered mild cases of the human form of swine flu swelled to 13 on Tuesday, with new cases reported in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia.

The new cases in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia were anticipated, and do not change the federal government’s course of action…

The four cases, which were the first to be confirmed in Ontario since the disease spread outside Mexico, were all mild and involved people who had travelled to Mexico recently. Two were from the York region, north of Toronto, and the other two were from the Durham region, east of Toronto.

Full Article:  here.

>>Obama seeks $1.5 bln for swine flu as cases jump

President Barack Obama asked Congress on Tuesday for an additional $1.5 billion (1 billion pounds) to fight swine flu as the confirmed U.S. caseload jumped to 65 people in six states in what doctors fear may become a full pandemic.

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Obama, in a letter to Congress, said the $1.5 billion would give the government “maximum flexibility” as it fights the disease, supplementing antiviral stockpiles, adding medical equipment and starting preparations for a vaccine.

Full Article:  here.

>>The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter

What to call the new strain of flu raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones.

Pork producers question whether the term “swine flu” is appropriate, given that the new virus has not yet been isolated in samples taken from pigs in Mexico or elsewhere.

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Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu.” An Israeli deputy health minister — an ultra-Orthodox Jew — said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word “swine.”

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This is not a food-borne illness, virus — it is not correct to refer to it as swine flu because really that’s not what this is about,” Mr. Vilsack said.

Full Article:  here.

>>Canadian health officials warn against travel to Mexico

A Canadian health agency is warning against travel to Mexico, where there’s an outbreak of human swine flu, unless absolutely necessary.

The Public Health Agency of Canada issued the warning late Monday, saying travellers should postpone any non-essential travel to the country until further notice.

The agency urged travellers to take precautionary measures such as getting a flu shot, frequently washing their hands, and covering coughs and sneezes.

Full Article:  here.

>>Swine flu spreads to Middle East, South Pacific; New Zealand reports 11 confirmed cases, Israel, one

Swine flu spread to the Middle East and the South Pacific on Tuesday, as New Zealand reported 11 confirmed cases and Israel said it had one. World health officials raced to contain the outbreak, raising a global alert level as more deaths were reported in Mexico.

Swine flu has already spread to seven countries and appears to be jumping borders via airplane flights. Those infected in New Zealand are a group of students and teachers who returned recently from a trip to Mexico, where the virus is suspected to have infected nearly 2,000 people and caused more than 150 deaths.

Fifty cases — none fatal — have been confirmed in the United States. Six cases have been confirmed in Canada, two in Spain and two in Scotland.

European Union officials reported Tuesday flu cases were also being probed in Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Ireland, in addition to Spain and Britain.

Full article:  here.

>>April 15th

The Press Association:  Breakthrough in superbug fight

Queen’s University Belfast may have made a breakthrough discovery in superbug’s natural resistance to disinfectants.

Many types of bacteria, such as MRSA, exist in colonies that adhere to the surfaces of materials.

The colonies often form coatings, known as biofilms, that protect them from antiseptics, disinfectants, and antibiotics.

Assistant director at Quill [Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (Quill)] Mr Earle added: “We have shown that, when pitted against the ionic liquids (salts) we developed and tested, biofilms offer little or no protection to MRSA, or to seven other infectious micro-organisms.”

>>April 16th

‘We’ve cut MRSA rate to zero’ – city hospital

A hospital in Ireland adopts Scandanavian anti-HAI, which proves dramatically effective.

The Mater Private Hospital in Dublin has cut its MRSA infection rate to zero due to the introduction of a new Scandinavian hygienic programme.

The ‘Search and Destroy’ scheme has been implemented over the past few years and there were zero recorded MRSA-related infections in the hospital in 2008.

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Ms Higgins said that MRSA needs to be tackled by a combination of actions and that this particular technique involves swabbing certain high-risk patients for the infection at the time of admission to hospital.

A representative said that patients with MRSA, as well as those who have a high risk of infection, are isolated from other patients

Superbug payments under spotlight

Investigative news program highlights the millions of pounds paid out in the UK to claims involving HAI:

Millions of pounds were paid out in patient compensation claims involving allegations about hospital superbugs in the past five years, Channel 4 News online has found.

The payout figures, obtained from the NHS under freedom of information (FoI) laws, reveal the number of settlements made to victims when MRSA or C. diff allegations were included as part of their overall claim for compensation for injury.

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According to the figures, obtained from the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which defends compensation claims for health authorities, £4,000,462 was paid out to 44 claimants who included MRSA allegations as part of their overall claim in 2005, £1,964,617 to 32 claimants in 2006, £4,964,679 to 63 claimants in 2007, and £1,493,410 to 27 claimants last year.

>>March 21st

Simple techniques slash hospital infections: meeting

Jasper Palmer didn’t think he was doing anything special when he balled up his paper hospital gown and stuffed it into one of his gloves. He just knew it was tidy and would stop the gown from spreading germs.

But the technique is one of the simple innovations that has reduced rates of infection with so-called superbugs at his and other hospitals by 26 percent to 62 percent, infection control experts told a meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America in San Diego on Saturday.

>>March 23rd

Simple ideas from hospital staff cut superbug rates

Borrowing ideas from hospital workers who have devised their own clever strategies for reducing superbug spread can lead to huge drops in infection rates throughout a hospital, say infection control experts.

The experts told a meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America in San Diego on Saturday that using an approach called positive deviance (PD) at three U.S. hospitals helped to reduce the incidence of MRSA (multifaceted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) at their facilities by 26 to 62 per cent.

>>March 25th

Northern Ireland scientists find a new weapon in MRSA war

A new weapon that could help wipe out the deadly MRSA virus has been developed by researchers from Northern Ireland.
Experts from Queen’s University have discovered new agents that can kill colonies of MRSA and other antiboitic resistant hospital-acquired infections.

The antimicrobial agents also prevent any growth of the potentially lethal bacteria.

C difficile outbreak leaves three hospital patients dead

Three patients have died as a direct result of a C difficile outbreak at hospital in the South East.

East Sussex Hospitals trust has recorded 62 cases of the infection at Eastbourne District General Hospital since 1 January and has reviewed the histories of the affected patients.

The trust said on Tuesday that three patients had died as a direct result of being infected and it had contributed to a further 10 deaths.

>>March 27th

‘Search and destroy’ kills MRSA

A private hospital in Dublin has instituted a strict ’search-and-destroy’ policy to combat MRSA infections.

See a video of Dr. Fidelma Fitzpatrick from the Irish Health Protection Surveillance Centre discuss the facts of healthcare-associated infections here.

>>Mar 10/09

Support Services Crucial to Infection Control, Study Says
CUPE says control of HAI is “much more complex than people just washing their hands”:

The research paper draws from reports in countries including Canada, Scotland and the United Kingdom, which note that clinical studies and audits have linked HAI outbreaks with understaffing, increased workload, high turnover and inadequate training.

Charlottetown medical unit reopens after superbug causes lockdown
A Charlottetown hospital, which recently stated an outbreak of MRSA and VRE was over, just re-opened after lockdown to control another superbug problem.

Part of Charlottetown’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital was locked down Monday afternoon and night, and has since reopened after a patient tested positive for a superbug.

Hospital officials are still trying to determine the source of the bacteria.

>>Mar 11/09

How contractors are battling infection during hospital construction
Building Design & Construction looks at how hospital infection control can be considered at the earliest stage of construction or renovation.

Every year, about 90,000 patients in U.S. hospitals contract nosocomial infections — they get sick (or sicker) from something they caught in the hospital. Two or three thousand of them die as a result.

Building Teams are helping to attack this problem by taking steps to control the spread of infection sources during construction of new facilities or additions, or during renovation of existing hospitals.

>>Mar 12/09

Kenta Secures $10M to Advance Antibodies against Nosocomial Infections
Kenta Biotech has raised $10m in private financing to cover the “ongoing development of two antibodies targeting aggressive bacteria that cause nosocomial infections.”

>>Feb 28/09

Antibiotic resistance: The ongoing challenge for effective drug therapy
The Journal for the American Academy of Physician Assistants (JAAPA) posts the first in a series of three articles on antibiotic resistance that “reviews this serious health threat, explains why the challenge is never-ending, and offers possible solutions.”

>>Mar 4/09

A 76-Year-Old Man With Recurrent Clostridium difficile Associated Diarrhea
JAMA article takes an in-depth look at the management of c.difficile by following the case of Mr S — examining the difficulties in managing c.difficile treatment can complicate the management of other conditions.

>>Feb 25/09

Reducing bacterial contamination using silver antimicrobial technology
New study examines whether the use of silver-treated materials can help contain the spread of nosocomial infections.

>>Feb 26/09

High-tech innovations to combat MRSA and C. diff are unveiled
Modern methods for combating MRSA to be piloted in seven NHS hospitals.

Portable hand washing stations, infection resistant loos, and pop-up isolation rooms are among the new technologies hospitals will be introducing to combat MRSA and C. diff, ministers said.

>>Feb 16/09

States consider requiring hospitals to screen for MRSA
Four states (California, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) require hospitals to screen high-risk patients for MRSA.  Eight states considered such legislation last year, and Washington and Kentucky filed new bills in late January.

The rate of patients entering the hospital with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus increased eightfold between 1999 and 2006. Politicians in statehouses around the country say hospitals need to take a more active approach to stopping MRSA’s spread.

A show of hands reveals the value of good hygiene
A study at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center gives a visceral lesson in the need for cleaning protocols and hand hygiene:

To show how infected – and contagious – an asymptomatic carrier could be, a physician examined the patient with an ungloved hand and then pressed his hand into a petri dish. After incubation, researchers were surprised to see MRSA bacteria growing in the dish so thickly that images of the physician’s fingers are easily discernable.

Jury awards $17.5 million to man who lost limbs from MRSA infection
A Texan man has been awarded a multi-million dollar settlement after he lost his limbs to gangrene that set in after septic shock from undiagnosed MRSA.

>>Feb 17/09

Bacterial Infections in Hospitals Decline
Time Magazine writes on the misleading nature of headline-grabbing superbug scares – that despite stories about sports teams and schools, superbugs are still largely found only in hospital settings.

The goal now is to further reduce the risk of MRSA in vulnerable populations by identifying them early on: according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, 10 states currently require screening of high-risk patients, including those in the ICU and with weaker immune systems, for MRSA, and other states may soon adopt similar screening laws.