Hotlines are remote systems that provide a direct link with professionals and rapid answers to their questions. In 2023, the hygiene operations team at Nantes University Hospital carried out an evaluation of its system five years after its introduction, involving 727 professionals. They were satisfied with the time and quality of the service provided, as well as with the scientific input received.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiseases caused by arboviruses are on the increase worldwide. In addition to arthropod bites, most arboviruses can be transmitted via accessory routes. Products of human origin (labile blood products, solid organs, hematopoietic stem cells, tissues) present a risk of contamination for the recipient if the donation is made when the donor is viremic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn spite of prevention measures enacted all over the world to control the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, including mask wearing, social distancing, hand hygiene, vaccination, and other precautions, the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to spread globally at an unabated rate of about 1 million cases per day. The specificities of superspreading events as well as evidence of human-to-human, human-to-animal and animal-to-human transmission, indoors or outdoors, raise questions about a possibly neglected viral transmission route. In addition to inhaled aerosols, which are already recognized as key contributors to transmission, the oral route represents a strong candidate, in particular when meals and drinks are shared.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The objectives were to elaborate new recommendations for the French Government taking into account the new epidemiological situation due to Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus and to maintain essential functions of the State through socioeconomic and health life.
Method: Two self-decision matrix were built for isolation (cases) and quarantine (contacts) and for citizen testing, respectively. The recommendations included in the two matrix were validated internally by experts and scientists from the scientist literature.
Scope: Since April 2022, a large number of monkeypox (MPX) cases have emerged across the globe in regions that are known to be totally free of zoonotic reservoir. The High Council for Public Health is a national institute commissioned to provide guidelines to the French Ministry of Health. The objective of these guidelines and recommendations is to inform the public, people at risk of severe MPX infection, infected patients and their families and contacts and healthcare workers in charge of infected patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
October 2022
We conducted a retrospective study from 2005 to 2019 to describe the epidemiology and mortality of enterobacterial producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase (E-ESBL) infections in our university hospital over a 17-year period of time. Clinical and microbiological data were extracted from different software used for continuous surveillance. Stool samples from systematic screening for E-ESBL colonization were excluded from the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Many European health institutions have appointed multidisciplinary teams for the general management of vascular access to help improve efficiency, patient safety and reduce costs. Vascular access teams (VATs), or infusion teams, are specifically trained groups of healthcare professionals who assess, place, manage and monitor various outcomes and aspects of vascular access care.
Objective: To assess the current landscape of vascular access management as a discipline across Europe.
Background: Influenza is a common viral condition, but factors related to short-term mortality have not been fully studied in older adults. Our objective was to determine whether there is an association between geriatric factors and 30-day mortality.
Methods: This was a retrospective cohort design.
Methods to test the safety of wood material for hygienically sensitive places are indirect, destructive and limited to incomplete microbial recovery via swabbing, brushing and elution-based techniques. Therefore, we chose mCherry Staphylococcus aureus as a model bacterium for solid and porous surface contamination. Confocal spectral laser microscope (CSLM) was employed to characterize and use the autofluorescence of Sessile oak (Quercus petraea), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and poplar (Populus euramericana alba L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSARS-CoV-2 mainly infects the respiratory tract, and presents significantly higher active replication in the upper airways. To remain viable and infectious, the SARS-CoV-2 virion must be complete and integral, which is not easily demonstrated in the environment by positive reverse transcriptase PCR results. Real-life conditions in healthcare settings may be conducive to SARS-CoV-2 RNA dissemination in the environment but without evidence of its viability and infectiveness in air.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: this study aims to determine the incidence of nosocomial infections and the associated risk factors in new mothers and newborns at the maternity wards in the city of Mbujimayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Methods: we conducted a longitudinal descriptive study of the incidence and risk factors for nosocomial infections in patients without them at baseline in 231 maternity units. Data were collected on a weekly basis over a period of 6 months.
Background: Vascular access by means of intravenous catheters is essential for the safe, effective and cost-efficient delivery of intravenous fluids, antibiotics, nutrition and chemotherapy, but the use of these devices is not without complications.
Purpose: A faculty of multidisciplinary European vascular access team (VAT) Leads/Members and experts sought to reframe how the implementation of a VAT could have positive impacts on patients and hospitals.
Methods: Interview data from a Faculty of nine VAT Leads/Members and experts from six European countries on the impact of multidisciplinary VATs in modern healthcare were assessed.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) remain a burden in healthcare facilities, environmental surfaces being a potential reservoir for healthcare-associated pathogens. In this context, exploration of materials with potential antimicrobial activities represents a way forward for the future. Here, we explored the survival of four bacterial species commonly involved in HAI (, , , ), on oak versus three other materials (aluminum, polycarbonate, stainless steel).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo assess the activity of (oak) on five bacterial species/genus frequently involved in hospital-acquired infections for evaluating the interest of going further in exploring the possibilities of using untreated wood as a material in the hospital setting. We studied the activity of by the disk diffusion method. was active on and complex, two bacterial species particularly resistant in the hospital environment, independently from their resistance to antibiotics, and was slightly active on .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The prevalence of extended beta-lactamase producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) has been constantly increasing over the last few decades. These microorganisms that have acquired broad antibiotic resistance are now common human pathogens. Changes in the gut microbiome, induced by antibiotics or other drugs, enable expansion of these microorganisms, but the mechanisms are not yet fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntimicrob Agents Chemother
August 2020
Nasal decolonization is an integral part of the strategies used to control and prevent the spread of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) infections. The two most commonly used agents for decolonization are intranasal mupirocin 2% ointment and chlorhexidine wash, but the increasing emergence of resistance and treatment failure has underscored the need for alternative therapies. This article discusses povidone iodine (PVP-I) as an alternative decolonization agent and is based on literature reviewed during an expert's workshop on resistance and MRSA decolonization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Almost 15% of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) will require a proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) as a result of fulminant colitis, dysplasia, cancer, or medical refractory diseases. Around 50% will experience pouchitis, an idiopathic inflammatory condition involving the ileal reservoir, responsible for digestive symptoms, deterioration in quality of life, and disability. Though the majority of initial cases of pouchitis are easily managed with a short course of antibiotics, in about 10% of cases, inflammation of the pouch becomes chronic with very few treatments available.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a face mask has become usual and ubiquitous, in both hospitals and community. However, the general public is consuming surgical or filtering face piece (FFP) masks irrespective of their specificity, leading to global supply shortage for the most exposed persons, which are healthcare workers. This underlines the urgent need to clarify the indications of the different categories of mask, in order to rationalize their use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
March 2020
Background: Inulin, consisting of repetitive fructosyl units linked by β(2,1) bonds, is a readily fermentable fiber by intestinal bacteria that generates large quantities of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). In individuals with constipation, it was reported that inulin ingestion was associated with a significant increase in stool frequency, suggesting a potential impact of inulin on human gut microbiota composition. Progress in high-throughput technologies allow assessment of human-associated microbiomes in terms of diversity and taxonomic or functional composition, and can identify changes in response to a specific supplementation.
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