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Found 194 results
  1. News Article
    Advice on how new mothers with sepsis should be treated is to change after two women died of a herpes infection. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says viral sources of infections should be considered and appropriate treatment offered. This comes after the BBC revealed one surgeon might have infected the mothers while performing Caesareans on them. The East Kent Hospitals Trust said it had not been possible to identify the source of either infection. Kimberley Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died of an infection caused by the herpes virus 44 days apart in 2018, shortly after giving birth by Caesarean section. Their families were told there was no link between the deaths but BBC News revealed on Monday that both operations had been carried out by the same surgeon. Documents we uncovered showed that the trust had been told two weeks after the second death that "it does look like surgical contamination". Edward Morris, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which set standards in maternity care, said routine investigation and management of maternal sepsis "should always consider viral sources of infection, and appropriate changes should be instituted to support earlier diagnosis and treatment". Medics treating Ms Sampson and Mrs Mulcahy assumed they were suffering from a bacterial infection and didn't prescribe the anti-viral medication that may had saved their lives. The Royal College said the two deaths should be "fully investigated" as "surgical infection appears to be a significant possibility". But BBC News has learned that the East Kent Hospitals Trust, which treated both women, never told the coroner's office that the same surgeon had carried out both operations or that an investigation they had ordered had suggested the virus strains the two women had died from appeared to be "epidemiologically linked". Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 November 2021
  2. News Article
    The NHS has been given the green light to offer people living with HIV the first "long-acting injectable" to keep the virus at bay. Charities have hailed the "incredible news" which offers an alternative to adults living with HIV who have to take daily antiretroviral drugs. Many people living with HIV can keep the virus at very low levels by taking antiretroviral tablets each day. These drugs keep the number of virus particles in the blood - also known as the viral load - so low that it cannot be detected or transmitted between people. But now an estimated 13,000 people will be eligible for the injectable treatment in England which means they no longer need daily treatment but will have two injections every two months. This means they can reduce the days they receive treatment from 365 to 6 per year. Meindert Boysen, deputy chief executive NICE, said: "Despite scientific advances HIV is still incurable, but the virus can be controlled by modern treatment. However, for some people, having to take daily multi-tablet regimens can be difficult because of drug-related side effects, toxicity, and other psychosocial issues such as stigma or changes in lifestyle." "We're pleased therefore to be able to recommend cabotegravir with rilpivirine as a valuable treatment option for people who already have good levels of adherence to daily tablets, but who might prefer an injectable regimen with less frequent dosing." Read full story Source: 18 November 2021
  3. News Article
    The social restrictions imposed upon our lives because of coronavirus have taken a toll on our emotions, finances, and our waistlines, but there may yet be a silver-lining: a reduction in cases of other infectious diseases. From the common cold to chickenpox, there has been a substantial drop in the number of infections being reported to GPs, despite children returning to school – and that looks set to continue as winter approaches and lockdown restrictions tighten across the country. According to the latest GP surveillance data for England there were 1.5 cases of common cold for every 100,000 people during the week ending 6 October – compared to 92.5 cases reported during the same week last year. The rate of other non-Covid respiratory illnesses was also lower, at 131 for every 100,000 people, compared to 303 last year. Influenza-like illness is also down, at 131 cases for every 100,000 people, versus 303 cases in 2019. Although there has been in increase since the start of the school term, for all of these illnesses, infection rates remain below expected seasonal levels for this time of year, the report by the Royal College of General Practitioners’ research and surveillance centre said. Equivalent data was not immediately accessible for Wales and Scotland. GP consultations for other infectious diseases like strep throat, tonsillitis and impetigo, as well as infectious intestinal diseases like norovirus are also well below the five-year average – and have been since late March – the report suggests. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 October 2020
  4. News Article
    The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including drug-resistant bacteria, or “superbugs”, pose far greater risks to human health than Covid-19, threatening to put modern medicine “back into the dark ages”, an Australian scientist has warned, ahead of a three-year study into drug-resistant bacteria in Fiji. “If you thought Covid was bad, you don’t want anti-microbial resistance,” Dr Paul De Barro, biosecurity research director at Australia’s national science agency, the CSIRO, told The Guardian. “I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say it’s the biggest human health threat, bar none. Covid is not anywhere near the potential impact of AMR. We would go back into the dark ages of health.” WHO warns overuse of antibiotics for COVID-19 will cause more deaths While AMR is an emerging public health threat across the globe, in the Pacific, where the risk of the problem is acute, drug-resistant bacteria could stretch the region’s fragile health systems beyond breaking point. An article in the BMJ Global Health journal reported there was little official health data – and low levels of public knowledge - around antimicrobial resistance in the Pacific, and that high rates of infectious disease and antibiotic prescription were driving up risks. “A challenge for Pacific island countries and territories is trying to curtail antimicrobial excess, without jeopardising antimicrobial access for those who need them,” the paper argued. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 September 2020
  5. News Article
    A number of “unusual infections” have been discovered among patients at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital (RACH), prompting investigation by an NHS trust. NHS Grampian said they were taking a “very precautionary approach” and looking for any potential links that these infections could have to the hospital environment. These precautions include relocating some procedures, with the trust also warning that there may be delays in treatment for a small number of patients. They were keen to point out that the hospital will continue to admit and treat patients as normal whilst the investigation is ongoing. An NHS Grampian spokesman explained: “While we investigate the causes of this – and whether or not there is a link to the hospital environment – we are taking a very precautionary approach. Read full story Source: The Independent, 16 May 2021
  6. News Article
    Failures to follow national guidelines to prevent group B Strep infections in newborn babies is leading to a postcode lottery of care and opportunities to stop deadly infections being missed, a new report has found. Nearly 90% of hospitals in the UK are not using the recommended test for GBS carriage – which costs around £11- despite clear guidance issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Public Health England (PHE) that the test can significantly decrease false-negative results. Group B Strep is the UK’s most common cause of severe infection in newborn babies, causing sepsis, pneumonia, and meningitis. Approximately 800 babies a year in the UK develop group B Strep infection in their first 3 months of life, 50 babies will die, with another 70 survivors left with life-changing disabilities. Most of these infections could be prevented. Only a tiny number of NHS Trusts are following the key new recommendations around giving pregnant women information on group B Strep, offering testing to some pregnant women, and following Public Health England guidelines on testing for group B Strep. As a result, pregnant women face a postcode lottery, potentially receiving significantly different care from recommended practice. Read full story Source: Group B Strep Support, 1 February 2021
  7. News Article
    A new state of the art institute for antimicrobial research is to open at Oxford University thanks to a £100 million donation from Ineos. Ineos, one of the world’s largest manufacturing companies, and the University of Oxford are launching a new world-leading institute to combat the growing global issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which currently causes an estimated 1.5 million excess deaths each year- and could cause over 10m deaths per year by 2050. Predicted to also create a global economic toll of $100 trillion by mid-century, it is arguably the greatest economic and healthcare challenge facing the world post-Covid. It is bacterial resistance, caused by overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which arguably poses the broadest threat to global populations. The world is fast running out of effective antibiotics as bacteria evolve to develop resistance to our taken-for-granted treatments. Without urgent collaborative action to prevent common microbes becoming multi-drug resistant (commonly known as ‘superbugs’), we could return to a world where taken-for-granted treatments such as chemotherapy and hip replacements could become too risky, childbirth becomes extremely dangerous, and even a basic scratch could kill. The rapid progression of antibacterial resistance is a natural process, exacerbated by significant overuse and misuse of antibiotics not only in human populations but especially in agriculture. Meanwhile, the field of new drug discovery has attracted insufficient scientific interest and funding in recent decades meaning no new antibiotics have been successfully developed since the 1980s. Alongside its drug discovery work, the IOI intends to partner with other global leaders in the field of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to raise awareness and promote responsible use of antimicrobial drugs. The academic team will contribute to research on the type and extent of drug resistant microbes across the world, and critically, will seek to attract and train the brightest minds in science to tackle this ‘silent pandemic’. Read full story Source: University of Oxford, 19 January 2021
  8. Content Article
    NHS England’s report into blood culture practices outlines key improvement steps in the pre-analytical phase of the blood culture pathway. Through targeted recommendations to trust chief executives, clinical and pathology staff, we have an opportunity to improve the blood culture pathway, antimicrobial stewardship and patient outcomes from sepsis. This document sets out proposals to improve and standardise the pre-analytical phase of the blood culture pathway. It details the outputs of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) diagnostics improvement workstream at NHS England and NHS Improvement, and examines the required changes to improve existing processes within the blood culture pathway. It concludes with a set of recommendations for best practice.
  9. Content Article
    This report by the Access to Medicine Foundation looks at how the pharmaceuticals industry can help tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by improving access to medicines. It sets out how the unstable antibiotic market, with its fragile supply chains and tough market conditions, hinders the development of robust models that would allow medications to be more easily distributed and accessed. It features six case studies where companies and their partners are using a combination of access strategies to cut through the complexity and address access at a local level.
  10. Content Article
    Infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes and practices play a vital role to ensure outbreak preparedness and control, including patient safety and quality of care, which remain essential components of universal health coverage across health systems worldwide. However, detailed IPC evaluations using standardised validated tools, such as the WHO IPC self-assessment framework (IPCAF), are limited.  Tomczyk et al. have conducted the first WHO global survey to assess implementation of these programmes in healthcare facilities. IPC professionals were invited through global outreach and national coordinated efforts to complete the online WHO IPC assessment framework (IPCAF). The study found that despite an overall high IPCAF score globally, important gaps in IPC facility implementation and core components across income levels hinder IPC progress. Increased support for more effective and sustainable IPC programmes is crucial to reduce risks posed by outbreaks to global health security and to ensure patient and health worker safety.
  11. Content Article
    NHS Resolution received 172 claims relating to anti-infective medications between 1 April 2015 until 31 March 2020. Anti-infective medications include antibiotics, antivirals and antifungals. The analysis in this leaflet focuses on closed claims that have been settled with damages paid and concern an element of the prescribing process: prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administering and monitoring. Claims concerning a failure to recognise that an anti-infective was indicated have not been included within the analysis.
  12. Content Article
    The US's response to monkeypox fails to put patients and their care at its centre, writes Eric Kutscher in the BMJ opinion article. As a primary care and addiction medicine physician, Kutscher has been dismayed by the number of patients he has treated over the past few weeks who’ve been infected with the vaccine-preventable monkeypox virus. Most have been in considerable pain and required strong analgesics, with some unable to even sit because of their skin lesions. Yet for many, the most agonising and scarring aspect of their infection is not their physical symptoms, but the complete removal of their humanity by the medical response to monkeypox. As a medical and public health community, we are exhausted after Covid-19, and our compassion fatigue is showing in our policies and procedures for monkeypox. The spread of the virus to previously non-endemic countries was only recently declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. Unlike with Covid-19, this is not a novel virus—we have the appropriate diagnostic testing, treatment, and even vaccines that we need. Yet, just as we have failed to deploy these tools to assist in outbreaks in African nations, we are now also failing our patients from a sexual minority—patients who are already underserved and justifiably mistrusting of a medical system.
  13. Content Article
    Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major challenge to the UK’s health security, and is already responsible for a significant burden of death, disability and prolonged illness globally. The growing resistance of bacteria, viruses and fungi to the drugs commonly used to treat them threatens modern medicine, and our ability to carry out standard medical procedures. This report draws on the expert input of a roundtable held by public service think tank Reform in October 2022, to assess progress made against proposals published by Reform in 2020.
  14. Content Article
    The Covid-19 pandemic has, in many ways, been healthcare’s finest hour. Clinicians performed miracles as they battled to understand a new disease, learning as they went along the techniques and approaches that gave patients the best chance of survival. But, for all this quiet heroism, the crisis also turned a harsh spotlight on the deficiencies of health systems, writes Sarah Neville in this Financial Times article.
  15. Content Article
    There are few better known authorities on the covid-19 pandemic than Anthony Fauci. One of the world’s most respected infectious disease experts, he spoke with The BMJ’s editor, Fiona Godlee, about the pressures of advising the US president, the challenging nature of the new coronavirus, and how the pandemic might end.
  16. Content Article
    This Take, Treat and Test webinar took place on 10 September 2020, presented by Dr Ron Daniels, Founder, and Executive Director – Clinical – Sepsis Trust UK and Consultant in Critical Care and Anaesthesia, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
  17. Content Article
    The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) has guidance on group B Strep infection in newborn babies, which was last updated in September 2017. A national learning published earlier in 2020 by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) highlighted that the RCOG guidance was not being followed. This report from the Group B Strep Support reinforces these findings. Only a tiny number of NHS Trusts are following the key new recommendations around giving pregnant women information on group B Strep, offering testing to some pregnant women, and following Public Health England guidelines on testing for group B Strep. As a result, pregnant women face a postcode lottery, potentially receiving significantly different care from recommended practice. Group B Strep Support recommends that the NHS prioritises the prevention of group B Strep infection in newborn babies. A key step towards this would be to ensure published national guidance from recognised expert bodies is adopted and implemented in a timely manner.
  18. Content Article
    Neonatal herpes simplex virus (HSV) disease is a rare, and potentially fatal, disease which usually occurs in the first four weeks of a baby's life. Early recognition and treatment of the virus has been shown to significantly improve babies' chances of making a full recovery. Kit Tarka Foundation works to prevent newborn baby deaths; primarily through raising awareness of neonatal herpes, funding research and providing advice for healthcare professionals and the general public.
  19. Content Article
    This article from Delaveris et al. outlines one health system's experience implementing a bundle to reduce sepsis-related mortality and the observed connection between adherence to the bundle and improved sepsis care.
  20. Content Article
    Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a naturally occurring bacterium, often found in the mother’s vagina, which can be dangerous for babies during labour and immediately after birth. The mothers carry this bacterium in the birth canal without any problem to themselves. Giving antibiotics to the mother during labour reduces the incidence of GBS infection passing on to the baby (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2012).
  21. Content Article
    The perspective of Megha Prasad, a New York cardiologist leading a COVID-19 infections disease service, discusses leadership qualities of being available, communication, adaptability, humility and gratitude as key to effective leadership during challenging times.
  22. Content Article
    This data snapshot from Santoli et al. highlights the results of an examination of two data sets (Jan to April 2019 and Jan to April 2020) to assess the impact of the pandemic on pediatric vaccination in the United States. The authors found significant vaccination declines and highlight the importance of childhood vaccination to prevent future disease outbreaks.
  23. Content Article
    Information on COVID-19, including guidance on the assessment and management of suspected UK cases.
  24. Content Article
    The World Health Organization (WHO) are publishing regular situation reports for the spread of the coronavirus disease. The reports includes numbers of new cases, numbers of total cases and death from cronavirus per country.
  25. Content Article
    The World Health Organization has produced a list of questions and answers to help provide the public with accurate information on the coronavirus.
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