Summary of Assessment of Public Health Risk to Canada Associated with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
From the Public Health Agency of Canada, updated January 15, 2016 The risk assessment is reviewed on a regular basis and updated as required. Risk Assessment The public health risk posed by MERS-CoV to Canada is considered low based on available information at this time. The risk may change as new information arises. MERS-CoV is considered a zoonotic virus that can lead to secondary infections among people. Many community-acquired infections are thought to be associated with...
Expanded Evidence for Frozen FMT for C. difficile Infection
A new study, published in the current edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), presents expanded evidence for frozen fecal microbiota transplantation for Clostridium difficile infection. You can access the article here, or through your library account....
Rats carry MRSA and C.difficile
With Vancouver and the Lower Mainland plagued with a scourge of rats, new research from UBC suggests there may be grave consequences if the rodents' risk to human health continues to be underestimated. The UBC team studied the feces of rats caught at an Abbotsford poultry farm, and discovered that not only was every specimen carrying a strain of avian E.coli, more than a quarter of the vermin carried multi-drug resistant strains...
Reminder: the 4 moments for hand hygiene
Do your staff know the four moments for hand hygiene? .This may be easier to remember as "Clean your hands before and after contact with the patient or patient environment." Two important points: 1. Although the provincial hand hygiene compliance rate is an impressive 88% after patient/environment contact, the before rate is only 78% - which is below the target rate of 80%. Remind your staff, cleaning their hands BEFORE contact with the patient or patient...
New AMMI Antiviral Guidance for Influenza Outbreaks
In December 2015, the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI) published an updated guidance document for the use of antivirals in the management of care facility influenza outbreaks for the 2015-16 season. Given the potential for low vaccine effectiveness of this season’s influenza vaccine, the AMMI guidance document states that, at the discretion of the local health authority or Medical Health Officer, antiviral prophylaxis may be extended beyond...
MCR-1 gene in Canada
The discovery that the MCR-1 gene — which makes E. coli and some other species of bacteria resistant to colistin — has been in Canada for at least five years has scientists wondering when it first emerged and how to stop its spread. The existence of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance, or MCR-1, gene was first reported in November 2015 in the medical journal the Lancet after scientists identified it in E....
Study links IBS to Vitamin D deficiency
A study published in the British Medical Journal has shown a link between Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and lack of vitamin D. There is no single known cause and no single known cure for IBS, although food and stress have been identified as aggravating factors. In the study by the University of Sheffield's Molecular Gastroenterology Research Group, 82 per cent of the 52 IBS sufferers tested had insufficient levels of vitamin D. Read...