New federal rules on the use of biological agents were bolstered in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks, but the regulations may have impinged upon some legitimate research collaborations and now need to be reviewed, doctors told a 25 June briefing organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy.

The U.S. government’s “select agent” program was created during the 1990s to control the transfer of bio-agents such as anthrax and botulinum toxin. New laws and regulations after 2001 added additional restrictions on the possession, use and transfer of the agents, including FBI checks on lab facilities and the personnel who use the agents. A 2004 law then outlawed research on viruses that are close genetic derivatives of the deadly smallpox virus.

Scientific researchers have fretted about the red tape involved in creating containment laboratories and obtaining and sharing agents, particularly in the case of collaboration with foreign partners.

“These labs are necessary if you are going to work on diseases that cause harm,” said Gigi Kwik Gronvall, senior associate at the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director and Nancy Bruening, Managing Editor

Bio-war threatens global research collaboration.

Posted: August 5th, 2008 under Anthrax, Developing Diseases, Diseases, Impaired Immunity, Masks Control Transmission.
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Another patient has been infected with the potentially deadly Legionnaires’ disease in upstate New York,  and public health officials there are saying that the bacteria which causes the deadly respiratory ailment has been found at a second site, a Syracuse nursing home.

Scientists searching for the source of the outbreak discovered the “Legionella bacteria that causes the illness in the water system of the 526-bed Van Duyn Home and Hospital,” said Gary Sauda, the Onondaga County director of environmental health.

The disease is a frightful form of pneumonia. Patients become infected by inhaling airborne water droplets that contain the bacteria. In epidemics of this disease, people up to two miles away from the source can be infected. The nursing home and hospital are located less than a half mile apart.

Thu far one person has died since the outbreak began June 30, and another 12 have been infected.

Investigators suspect the outbreak was caused by Legionella bacteria discovered in one of the air conditioning cooling towers at Community General Hospital of Syracuse, N.Y. but they have not yet definitively proven that hypothesis. Six of 13 people infected by the bacteria were Community General patients.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director

Nursing home patients at risk of infection by Legionella bacteria.

Posted: July 17th, 2008 under Droplet Precautions, Hand Hygiene, Impaired Immunity, Legionnaires' Disease, Masks Control Transmission.
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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is moving forward with additional measures, as part of a “comprehensive plan” to address public safety concerns regarding a national biocontainment research laboratory now under construction at Boston University Medical Center.

Research in the laboratory will focus on the development of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines for an array of infectious diseases.

“Our number one concern is the safety of the people working in the laboratory and those living in the surrounding communities,” Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., NIH director, says.

NIH has established an internal Coordinating Committee to guide the agency’s efforts to address safety concerns raised by community representatives and other members of the public.

NIH also has established a blue ribbon panel, chaired by Adel Mahmoud, M.D., Ph.D., of Princeton University, that will review current risk assessments and provide independent technical expertise and guidance. The panel includes experts in infectious diseases, public health and epidemiology, risk assessment, environmental justice, risk communications, biodefense, biosafety, and infectious disease modeling. “The biomedical research conducted in facilities such as the one under construction at Boston University Medical Center is essential for developing vaccines, therapies, and diagnostics to protect the American public against infectious diseases that may occur naturally or be deliberately introduced,” says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

“Through a transparent process, we will thoroughly examine any potential risks to the community associated with this project and continue to promote open communication and mutual understanding,” he adds.

In accord with NEPA, NIH completed a Final Environmental Impact Statement and issued a Record of Decision in February 2006 that affirmed the safety of the laboratory. Supplementary risk assessments were drafted in response to concerns raised in a federal court proceeding regarding a challenge to NIH’s previous review.

– by The Editors

A new biocontainment laboratory being built in Boston is generating national controversy.

Posted: March 7th, 2008 under Anti-Bacterial Resources, Antibiotic Resistant, Droplet Precautions, Hand Hygiene, Infection Protection, Masks Control Transmission, Parasites and Lice.
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Scientists may have finally found the answer to the persistent problem of getting doctors and nurses to wash their hands — a loud, annoying, and repeating beep.

A new technology developed by Toronto researchers, on the market as early as a year hence, equips health care officials and others involved in direct patient care, with a small sensor attached to their identification badge or lanyard.

Medical personnel who approach patients with “unwashed hands” will hear a beep, reminding them it is time to clean up. By squeezing a hand gel sanitizer taken from a wall dispenser, also outfitted with a sensor, the sound is turned off.

According to Geoff Fernie, vice president of research for the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute,  the device, which costs roughly $300 a hospital bed, may reduce MRSA and other infections, as it will constantly remind busy health care workers to cleanse their hands.

– by The Editors

For more information, see

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080303.HAND03/TPStory/National

Animation. Stern warnings. Now beeping sounds used to remind docs, nurses to wash their hands.

Posted: March 4th, 2008 under Anti-Bacterial Resources, Antibiotic Resistant, Droplet Precautions, Hand Hygiene, Infection Protection, Masks Control Transmission.
Comments: none

Washing one’s hands is not enough to control infections, but must be viewed as simply part of an overall “strategy” to combat disease, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

Kathy Warye, CEO of the association,  notes that “even the best hand hygiene compliance only gets us so far.”

Lessons learned from the association’s 12,000 members who manage infection prevention programs in healthcare facilities around the world indicate that to reduce the risk of infection and protect people, hospitals must begin by undertaking a comprehensive risk assessment. “Good infection prevention and control professionals don’t just know their patients—they know their hospital, they know which areas are at high risk and where there may be hidden reservoirs of bacteria, be it the ER or the OR,” writes Warye.

Hospital-wide adoption of correct hand hygiene protocols, as well as “contact precautions including use of gloves and gowns,” and a checklist for device-related care that is receiving so much attention of late in the health media, are among the tools “known to be effective” in preventing healthcare-associated infections, she adds.

However, Warye notes, without adequate resources and proper funding for infection prevention and control programs, and without the support of hospital leadership, medical professionals don’t stand a chance in the war on infections. “Hospital administrators must arm their infection control departments with the personnel and the dollars to implement comprehensive programs that include multiple interventions coordinated throughout the system. Only then can we prevent hospital-acquired infections and save lives,” writes Warye, in US News & World Report.

– by The Editors

For more information, see

http://health.usnews.com/blogs/comarow-on-quality/2008/2/7/wringing-our-hands-over-infection-control.html

Hints from Henry the Hand are a good start at infection protection.

Posted: February 22nd, 2008 under Antibiotic Resistant, Hand Hygiene, MRSA, Masks Control Transmission.
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The government of the Canadian province of Quebec is considering proposals by a task force to modernize the region’s health care system — including recommendations that suggest that private firms be allowed to manage hospitals and that physicians be permitted to accept payment from insurance companies. The proposal is considered a radical move, as Canada currently has a socialized medical system, where the government pays for all services out of tax revenues.

But with infection rates rising in hospitals, and patients dissatisfied with the quality of care in Canada, the government is now eyeing the American model of health care. To be sure, this will come as a shock to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidates who advocate the “single payer,” or government health care option, but will not be a surprise to those who have said America offers the best medical products and treatment in the world, as a result of the market economy.

According to press reports, Quebec Health Minister Philippe Couillard supports the recommendation that the government should allow private firms to manage hospitals through pilot projects that could eventually lead to “productive new options.”

Former Liberal Party minister Claude Castonguay, said Canadians are demanding changes to an “incoherent and rigid” system and should be given the freedom to choose the kind of health-care services they want.

“People can choose what car they want to buy, what suit they want to wear, what house they want to live in, but when it comes to their health, they don’t have a choice. That’s what I’m against,” Mr. Castonguay said in an interview yesterday. “We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise a freedom of choice.”

Colleen Flood, who is scientific director at the Canadian Institute of Health Research and an expert on public-private health-care financing, said she was surprised the task force would go so far as to recommend that doctors be allowed to practice in both the public and private health care systems.

“Once physicians are able to work in the private system then you will start to see the real flourishing of that private system. Doctors will have a financial incentive to spend more time in the privately financed system … and there is already a concern that there aren’t enough doctors in the public system to allow this,” she said.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

For more information, see,
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080220.QUEBECHEALTH20/TPStory/National

Government may not monopolize the Canadian health care system much longer.

Posted: February 21st, 2008 under Anti-Bacterial Resources, Hand Hygiene, Infection Protection, Masks Control Transmission.
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