FDA bans antibacterial agents from soaps
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to ban anti-bacterial hand and body washes. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are considered one of the biggest threats to human health today. By 2050, infections that cannot be treated with antibiotics are expected to kill more people than cancer. Antibiotics are not only used for treating bacterial infections, but also for preventing infections during surgical procedures, treatment of cancer, etc. Antibiotic resistance threatens to...
Canada’s Ebola vaccine in Guinea
Excerpted from the Ottawa Citizen: The World Health Organisation is running phase III clinical trials for Ebola virus disease vaccine in Guinea. The technique being used is "ring vaccination" which was used in the 1970s to eradicate smallpox. Co-ordinated by the World Health Organization, the vaccine trial employed the same ring vaccination strategy that was used to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Contacts were vaccinated in a “ring” around an infected...
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Cases in Spain
From the New York Times: Doctors are closely watching about 200 people in Spain after a patient at a hospital in Madrid died of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, the first time the disease has been found in Western Europe in someone who had not traveled to an endemic area. The patient apparently caught the virus after being bitten by a tick, and then passed it to a nurse before he died. It has...
Sage Products issues voluntary worldwide recall of topical skin products due to potential microbial contamination
Sage Products has issued a worldwide recall of their wipes related to possible contamination with B. cepacia. You can view the relevant information, including the product names and lot numbers, on the FDA recall web page. BC Clinical and Support Services is working with the distributor and the health authorities on mitigation strategies. In the meantime, any questions should be directed to Sage Products Customer Service at 1-800-421-6556. ...
Microneedle can monitor vancomycin levels without drawing blood
From The Vancouver Sun: Researchers at the University of B.C. have created a “lab on a chip” that could spell the end of painful, multiple daily blood tests for patients on intravenous antibiotics. A microneedle — created by engineering PhD student Sahan Ranamukhaarachchi — is only one-tenth as wide as a syringe needle and practically painless. Using microfluidics and optics, the new device is designed to monitor levels of the antibiotic vancomycin without drawing blood. Vancomycin...
Zika virus transmitted from patient to caregiver
From CBC News: A Utah man who became the first person in the continental U.S. to die after being infected with the Zika virus passed it to a (family member) caregiver. The man who died in late June caught the virus while travelling abroad to an area where mosquitoes are known to spread Zika and had an unusually high level of the virus in his blood, officials said. The exact cause of...
Emerging multidrug-resistant Candida auris: information on infection control practices
The following information was sent to PICNet's Community of Practice on July 14, 2016; you can also download the following information as a PDF. PICNet has also prepared a Q&A that you can view in our previous news post or as a PDF. Background The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Public Health Agency of Canada have recently raised an alert to an emerging multidrug-resistant (MDR) yeast, Candida auris (C....