Glove Use: What’s wrong with this picture?
Correct glove use is an important part of hand hygiene. Every year, millions of pairs of gloves are used within BC’s health-care facilities… but are they all being used correctly? PHSA employees and medical staff are invited to enter the “What’s wrong with this picture?” competition and tell us what not to do when it comes to glove use. (Employees of other health authorities can find this contest on their intranet.) For...
How Stenotrophomonas maltophila led to a biotech discovery
Quantum dots are tiny crystals that may offer sharper and brighter images for cellphones and TVs, for less money. Bryan Berger, a co-author of a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week, stumbled across an alternative for creating the little dots through an unintended sequence of events. It began when an alarmed hospital staff in Pennsylvania discovered a superbug growing on metal surfaces in 2011. Berger’s...
Zika news updates: Study strengthens suspected link between Zika and paralysis; Rapid test developed
Two new updates today on Zika virus: Portable Zika test Researchers have created a portable test that can show whether someone has been infected with the Zika virus, even in remote areas far from a hospital or lab. In a study published Friday in the journal Cell, a group of scientists led by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University describe how the inexpensive test was able to rapidly...
Elizabethkingia outbreak in US
Some 65 years ago, American microbiologist Elizabeth King peered into a microscope and discovered the “glistening, gray-white” organism that would eventually bear her name. In the ensuing decades, the bacterium — renamed Elizabethkingia in 2005 — would fall into relative obscurity, causing only sporadic cases and the rare hospital outbreak. But late last year, something strange started happening in the state of Wisconsin. “From the end of December to the beginning of...
Canadian company gets US approval for pediatric CDI drug
Appili Therapeutics Inc. of Halifax announced Tuesday it has received a key U.S. regulatory designation for a drug that treats Clostridium difficile infection in children. The company said in a statement the Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to its drug candidate ATI-1501. This medicine removes the bitter taste from a long-standing drug so that children are more willing to take it, thereby improving its effectiveness. It is the...
BCCDC Flu Policy Survey – enter to win!
health-care worker Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Study related to the BC Influenza Prevention Policy The province introduced a new policy in 2012 that requires health-care workers to get vaccinated against influenza or wear a mask in patient care areas during influenza season. The BC Centre for Disease Control is doing an evaluation study on the Policy, and you are encouraged to fill out a 10-15 minute survey on your experiences. All...
Canadian-designed mosquito trap could help fight Zika virus
A Canadian-led research team has taken a form of trash that promotes the spread of mosquitoes and turned it into a potential weapon against the disease-carrying insects. The scientists have repurposed used tires — which can fill with rain water and provide an ideal breeding chamber for female mosquitoes — by fashioning chunks of the rubberized material into traps for their eggs. "What we are aiming at is destroying the second...