July 14th, 2011 by MelissaSchaeferMD in Health Tips
Tags: CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, HICPAC, Infection Control, Infection Prevention, Medscape, Outbreak, Outpatient Care, Patient Care, Patient Safety
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As healthcare professionals, we must recognize our responsibility to protect patients – care should not provide any avenue for the transmission of infections. By working together, we can ensure infection prevention practices are understood and followed by all, during every patient visit. Healthcare continues to transition to settings outside the hospital, and efforts to prevent infections must extend to all settings where patients receive care.
Today, CDC is pleased to present the Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe Care. a summary guide of infection prevention recommendations for outpatient settings. Although these recommendations are not new, this guide is a concise, one-stop resource where ambulatory care providers can quickly find evidence-based guidelines produced by the CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC).
Repeated outbreaks and notification events resulting from unsafe practices highlight the need for better infection prevention across our entire healthcare system, not just in our hospitals. Based primarily upon elements of Standard Precautions, including medical injection safety and reprocessing of reusable medical devices, this guide reminds healthcare providers of the basic infection prevention practices that must be followed to assure safe care.
I urge you to use this guidance document, and the accompanying Infection Prevention Checklist for Outpatient Settings to assess the practices in your facility to assure that patients are receiving the safe care that they expect and deserve.
I also invite you to view our CDC Expert Video Commentary on Medscape titled New Infection Prevention Guidance for Outpatient Settings to learn more about the guidance.
*This blog post was originally published at Safe Healthcare*
July 13th, 2011 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Health Tips
Tags: Dengue Fever, ELISA, Florida, Hawaii, Mosquito, Signs, symptoms, Testing, Texas, Treatment
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Dengue fever is a viral (flavivrus) disease transmitted by Aedes albopictus and female A. aegypti mosquitoes. It is estimated that 50 to 100 million people in more than 100 countries are infected each year with dengue viruses.
There are four different types of dengue virus, and there is no cross-immunity, so a person may be stricken with dengue fever four times in his life. The most active feeding times for dengue vector mosquitoes is for a few hours after daybreak and in the afternoon for a few hours just after dark (dusk).
As opposed to the night-feeding mosquitoes that transmit malaria, these species tend to be “urban,” may also feed during daylight hours (also indoors, in the shade, and during overcast weather), and are known to bite below the waist. Dengue fever is seen chiefly in the Caribbean and South America, as well as other tropical and semitropical areas, such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and Mexico. In the United States, cases have been noted in Texas, Hawaii and Florida. The larvae flourish in artificial water containers (e.g., vases, tires), often in a domestic environment.
The incubation period following a mosquito bite is two to eight days. The disease is self-limited (five to seven days) and characterized in older children and adults by a sudden onset of symptoms, including: Read more »
This post, Dengue Fever: Mosquito Born Illness Now Found In Texas, Florida, And Hawaii, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
July 12th, 2011 by admin in Health Tips
Tags: Cause, Chronic Fatigue, Diagnosis, Energy Boosting, Fatigue, Getting To The Root Cause Of Fatigue, Health, Primary Care, Sleep, Stress
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Feeling tired? If so, it’s not surprising. Fatigue is one of the most common problems people report to their doctors. The Health and Retirement Study of more than 17 million older people ages 51 and up reported recently that 31% said they feel fatigued.
Fatigue is a symptom, not a disease. Different people experience it in different ways. The tiredness you feel at the end of a long day or after a time zone change might feel similar to that resulting from an illness. But fatigue from stress or lack of sleep usually subsides after a good night’s rest, while disease-related lethargy is more persistent and may be debilitating even after restful sleep.
Finding the cause. How do you know if your low-energy is caused by an underlying illness or is the result of stress, poor diet, or lack of sleep? For example, could you have chronic fatigue syndrome? That is an unusual illness and an uncommon cause of persistent fatigue, says Anthony Komaroff, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard, world-renowned expert on chronic fatigue syndrome, and medical editor of a new Harvard Special Health Report, Boosting Your Energy. About 4 to 8 of every 1,000 adults in the United States suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, which is about twice as common in women as in men. The causes of chronic fatigue syndrome are still unknown, and there is no accurate diagnostic test. However, scientists have found abnormalities in the brain and peripheral nervous system, in the immune system, and in energy metabolism in people with this syndrome. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
July 11th, 2011 by AliKhanMD in Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion
Tags: Border Crossers, Borders, CDC, Infectious Disease, Mexico, Population Risk, tuberculosis, US, Valley Fever
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Borders, Budgets, and the Rising Risk of Disease
Is there a perfect storm brewing along our nation’s southern border? Let’s take a look at the numbers in El Paso, Texas where I recently visited:
- There are 27 million crossings per year alone at the El Paso Point of Entry (POE)
- Cuts to federal funding including a 50% reduction in the Early Warning Infectious Disease Program as well as 12.5% cuts to critical preparedness and response funding;
- Texas is second in the nation for number of tuberculosis cases, the majority of which are found near the border and many of the cases involve tuberculosis strains that are drug resistant
- The bordering country, Mexico, was the source of the last global influenza pandemic
So is this a bad situation getting worse or a ticking bomb? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Public Health Matters Blog*
July 7th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Health Tips, Opinion, Research
Tags: Breast Cancer, Customization, Frequency, Mammogram Screening, Mammograms, Oncology, Personalized Healthcare, Plastic Surgery, Risk Factors, Screening, USPSTF
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I read the LA Times article by Shari Roan, Study urges more individual mammogram guidelines, with interest. As Roan notes, guidelines to date have mainly focused on a woman’s age and not her other risks factors.
The American Cancer Society recommends that healthy women undergo screening mammograms every one to two years beginning at age 40 regardless of risk factors. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended a different schedule which urged the inclusion of an individual’s personal risks: screening for women ages 40 to 49 should be based on individual risk factors and women ages 50 to 74 should be screened every two years.
Monday, a paper was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (full reference below) which argues for a more personalized approach to screening mammograms.
The study by Dr. Steven R. Cummings, senior author and senior researcher at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and colleagues was based on a computer model comparing the lifetime costs and health benefits for women who got mammograms every year, every two years, every three to four years or never. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
