Infection Prevention and Control for Ebola in Health Care Settings - West Africa and United States.

The 2014-2016 Ebola virus disease (Ebola) epidemic in West Africa underscores the need for health care infection prevention and control (IPC) practices to be implemented properly and consistently to interrupt transmission of pathogens in health care settings to patients and health care workers. Training and assessing IPC practices in general health care facilities not designated as Ebola treatment units or centers became a priority for CDC as the number of Ebola virus transmissions among health care workers in West Africa began to affect the West African health care system and increasingly more persons became infected. CDC and partners developed policies, procedures, and training materials tailored to the affected countries.

Preventing Transmission of Zika Virus in Labor and Delivery Settings Through Implementation of Standard Precautions - United States, 2016.

Zika virus transmission was detected in the Region of the Americas (Americas) in Brazil in May 2015, and as of March 21, 2016, local mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus had been reported in 32 countries and territories in the Americas, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization of the groin and risk for clinical infection among HIV-infected adults.

Data on the interaction between methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization and clinical infection are limited. During 2007-2008, we enrolled HIV-infected adults in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, in a prospective cohort study. Nares and groin swab specimens were cultured for S.

Preparing for influenza after 2009 H1N1: special considerations for pregnant women and newborns.

Pregnant women and their newborn infants are at increased risk for influenza-associated complications, based on data from seasonal influenza and influenza pandemics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed public health recommendations for these populations in response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. A review of these recommendations and information that was collected during the pandemic is needed to prepare for future influenza seasons and pandemics.

Evaluating the potential public health impact of a Staphylococcus aureus vaccine through use of population-based surveillance for invasive methicillin-resistant S. aureus disease in the United States.

We evaluated the potential effects of a hypothetical vaccine in preventing invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) disease in the United States. Using an active, population-based surveillance program, we estimated baseline disease rates in the United States and compared three distinct vaccination strategies which targeted adults > or =65 years of age, persons at risk for recurrent invasive infection, and patients at hospital discharge. The strategies were projected to reduce the burden of invasive MRSA disease by 12.

Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Michigan, USA, 2007.

Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) infections, which are always methicillin-resistant, are a rare but serious public health concern. We examined 2 cases in Michigan in 2007. Both patients had underlying illnesses.

Occurrence of a USA300 vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus.

A vancomycin-intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA) isolated from the blood of a 46-year-old patient with endocarditis was determined to be pulsed-field type USA300, daptomycin nonsusceptible, and positive for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes. Development of the VISA phenotype does not appear limited to traditional health care strains of S. aureus.

Influenza-associated pediatric mortality in the United States: increase of Staphylococcus aureus coinfection.

Objective: Pediatric influenza-associated death became a nationally notifiable condition in the United States during 2004. We describe influenza-associated pediatric mortality from 2004 to 2007, including an increase of Staphylococcus aureus coinfections.

Methods: Influenza-associated pediatric death is defined as a death of a child who is younger than 18 years and has laboratory-confirmed influenza.

Staphylococcus aureus community-acquired pneumonia during the 2006 to 2007 influenza season.

Study Objective: Staphylococcus aureus is a cause of community-acquired pneumonia that can follow influenza infection. In response to a number of cases reported to public health authorities in early 2007, additional case reports were solicited nationwide to better define S. aureus community-acquired pneumonia during the 2006 to 2007 influenza season.

Outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections after transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy.

Objectives: After the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Public Health was notified about 4 patients who were hospitalized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections after outpatient transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsies in July 2005, we investigated the cause of, and risk factors for, the infections.

Methods: We enhanced surveillance for additional cases, reviewed medical records, evaluated biopsy equipment and infection control practices, and collected environmental samples. Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy procedures were discontinued during the investigation.

Severe community-acquired pneumonia due to Staphylococcus aureus, 2003-04 influenza season.

During the 2003-04 influenza season, 17 cases of Staphylococcus aureus community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) were reported from 9 states; 15 (88%) were associated with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The median age of patients was 21 years; 5 (29%) had underlying diseases, and 4 (24%) had risk factors for MRSA.

No evidence of a mild form of inhalational Bacillus anthracis infection during a bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax outbreak in Washington, D.C., in 2001.

Background: The mail-related dispersal of Bacillus anthracis spores in the Washington, D.C., area during October 2001 resulted in 5 confirmed cases of inhalational anthrax.

A national survey of severe influenza-associated complications among children and adults, 2003-2004.

This report summarizes findings of a national survey conducted among infectious diseases consultants to assess complications associated with influenza during the 2003-2004 influenza season. The survey identified severe complications, including secondary infection with Staphylococcus aureus and deaths among children and adults, as well as perceived shortages in rapid diagnostic tests and influenza vaccine.

Risk of hospital-acquired legionnaires' disease in cities using monochloramine versus other water disinfectants.

Objective: To measure the association between the disinfection of municipal drinking water with monochloramine and the occurrence of hospital-acquired legionnaires' disease (LD).

Setting: One hundred sixty-six U.S.