Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported March 2 that the proportion of US pregnancies with Zika-associated birth defects is approximately 20 times higher than it was before introduction of the virus into the US. Between January 15 and September 22, 2016, the US Zika Pregnancy…

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Editor's Note In women undergoing hysterectomies largely because of gynecologic malignancies, duration of surgery was a significant surgical site infection (SSI) risk, finds this study. Choice of preoperative antibiotic did not affect SSI risk. Of 1,531 hysterectomies analyzed, there were 52 SSIs, with 60% being deep incisional or organ/space infections.…

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Editor's Note Needlestick injury and occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens are significant hazards for surgeons and nurses, attitudes about risks are changing, and the true seroconversion risk is underestimated, this study finds. A total of 358 medical students and 247 surgery staff were surveyed, and results were compared with 2003…

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Each year, more than 700,000 patients in acute care hospitals fall prey to healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), and approximately 75,000 hospitalized patients die from them. Such statistics have gotten the attention of regulatory agencies that are determined to reduce these numbers. The Healthcare-Acquired Infections and Medical Technology Stakeholder Event held in…

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Editor's Note In this study, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers created an automated system to identify diabetic patients, detect insulin administration, check for glucose measurement, and remind anesthesiologists to check intraoperative glucose. Implementation of the automated reminder system: improved glucose monitoring from 61.6% to 87.3% of cases reduced PACU hyperglycemia…

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Editor's Note In hospital delay of appendectomy in children was not associated with an increased rate of perforated appendix, this study from Sweden finds. Of 2,756 children who had an appendectomy for acute appendicitis, 661 (24%) had a histopathologic diagnosis of perforated appendix. In multivariate analysis, increased time to surgery…

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Editor's Note Surgical site infections (SSIs), especially serious infections resulting in hospitalization or surgical treatment, were associated with significantly increased health care costs after four common ambulatory surgical procedures, this study finds. The incidence of serious SSIs was 0.8% after 21,062 anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions, 0.5% after 57,750 cholecystectomies, 0.6%…

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Editor's Note A team of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) biologists have found that combinations of three different antibiotics can overcome a bacteria’s resistance, even when none of the three on its own or two together is effective, the February 7 UCLA Newsroom reports. The biologists created a mathematical…

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Editor's Note This study by Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and associates found that more rigorous reprocessing was not consistently effective in freeing endoscopes of contamination, and many had scratches and dents that could harbor blood, tissue, and bacteria. Even after reprocessing using current guidelines or additional measures, 12 of 20…

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Editor's Note Children having tonsillectomies to improve the number of sore throats and throat infections, associated clinic visits, and days of school missed had improved outcomes in the first year after surgery compared with children not having surgery, but these benefits did not persist over time, this study finds. For…

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