IPAC-BC Education Day: Save the Date!
IPAC-BC will be hosting an Infection Prevention and Control Education Day on Friday November 4, 2016. Be sure to mark it in your calendar! The event will be open to everyone (not just IPAC members). Details on the program and registration fees will be announced later this year. The event will be held in the Century-Plaza Hotel at 1015 Burrard Street, Vancouver. If you will be traveling from other parts of BC,...
FDA approves experimental test to screen blood donations for Zika virus
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday that it would allow the use of an experimental test to screen blood donations for contamination with the Zika virus. The move means that Puerto Rico, which had halted local blood donations and had imported nearly 6,000 units of red blood from the continental United States, will soon be able to resume collecting donations from residents. And it should help blood banks...
BC’s Animal Health Centre: detecting avian influenza
In British Columbia, when something mysterious has killed or sickened an animal – whether a fish, bird or mammal – the scientists at the Animal Health Centre in Abbotsford are the ones who often get the call. The centre, which employs 35 people, houses the provincial veterinary diagnostic laboratory and has high-level accreditation found only at two other facilities in the country. Each year, it accepts 6,000 case submissions of...
University of Saskatchewan researchers develop new way of combating antibiotic resistance
A University of Saskatchewan research team has discovered a way to prevent bacteria from developing resistance to antibiotics, potentially helping to blunt the edge of a looming threat to public health around the world. The University of Saskatchewan research team, led by biochemist Ron Geyer, looked at the “SOS response,” which happens when bacteria are attacked by antibiotics. The bacterial cell stops its normal cycle in order to repair its DNA....
Updated GI Outbreak Guidelines: Invitation to Review
In November 2015, we invited you to provide feedback on the current GI Outbreak Management Guidelines, as they were due for review. Based on your feedback and on information from recent literature, PICNet's Guidelines Steering Committee has completed the draft of the updated guidelines. We invite you to review the draft document and provide feedback again. Please review the document and enter your comments in the feedback form, then email the form to...
Antibiotic prescriptions by dentists have increased
Dentists in B.C. are increasingly prescribing more and stronger types antibiotics - sparking concerns that the pattern could increase superbugs and the risks of diseases spreading. Dr. Fawziah Marra, with the University of B.C., examined 17 years worth of antibiotic prescriptions in collaboration with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. Her findings revealed that dentists prescribed 62.2% more antibiotics between 1997 and 2013. The general thinking in modern medicine recommends reducing...
Google Joins Effort to Stop Zika Virus Spread
From TechNewsWorld: Google last week announced it would contribute US$1 million to the UN Children's Fund to support the global fight against the mosquito-borne Zika virus. A team of Google engineers has volunteered to work with UNICEF to analyze data in an effort to figure out the viral infection's path. It also will match employee donations with the goal of giving an extra $500,000 to UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization....