Active Tracing and Monitoring of Contacts Associated With the First Cluster of Ebola in the United States.

Background: Following hospitalization of the first patient with Ebola virus disease diagnosed in the United States on 28 September 2014, contact tracing methods for Ebola were implemented.

Objective: To identify, risk-stratify, and monitor contacts of patients with Ebola.

Design: Descriptive investigation.

State law mandates for reporting of healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile infections in hospitals.

US state and territorial laws were reviewed to identify Clostridium difficile infection reporting mandates. Twenty states require reporting either under state law or by incorporating federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' reporting requirements. Although state law mandates are more common, the incorporation of federal reporting requirements has been increasing.

Ebola virus disease cluster in the United States--Dallas County, Texas, 2014.

Since March 10, 2014, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have experienced the largest known Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic with approximately 13,000 persons infected as of October 28, 2014. Before September 25, 2014, only four patients with Ebola had been treated in the United States; all of these patients had been diagnosed in West Africa and medically evacuated to the United States for care.

State-mandated reporting of health care-associated infections in the United States: trends over time.

Over the past decade, most US states and territories began mandating that acute care hospitals report health care-associated infections (HAIs) to their departments of health. Trends in state HAI law enactment and data submission requirements were determined through systematic legal review; state HAI coordinators were contacted to confirm collected data. As of January 31, 2013, 37 US states and territories (71%) had adopted laws requiring HAI data submission, most of which were enacted and became effective in 2006 and 2007.