Disaster Med Public Health Prep
February 2024
The Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) is one of the US Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Nuclear Emergency Response Team (NEST) assets and has been responding to radiological incidents since 1976. REAC/TS is in the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). A critical part of the REAC/TS mission is to provide emergency response, advice, and consultation on injuries and illnesses caused from ionizing radiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Service members experience unique circumstances when providing medical care in austere environments. Some challenges include supply shortages and the need to perform surgery in extreme temperatures. As such, methods for the sanitization of medical tools are sought and efficacy of existing materiel sourced to austere medical facilities should be examined for this purpose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe threat of a large-scale radiological or nuclear (R/N) incident looms in the present-day climate, as noted most recently in an editorial in Scientific American (March 2021). These large-scale incidents are infrequent but affect large numbers of people. Smaller-scale R/N incidents occur more often, affecting smaller numbers of people.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We investigated differences in gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility by anatomic site among cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM) using specimens collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's enhanced Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project and Strengthening the US Response to Resistant Gonorrhea.
Methods: During the period January 1, 2018-December 31, 2019, 12 enhanced Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project and 8 Strengthening the US Response to Resistant Gonorrhea sites collected urogenital, pharyngeal, and rectal isolates from cisgender MSM in sexually transmitted disease clinics. Gonococcal isolates were sent to regional laboratories for antimicrobial susceptibility testing by agar dilution.
Introduction: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the efficacy of currently employed commercial disinfectants in a simulated austere surgical environment similarly faced by ground surgical teams in forward deployed positions. Severe contamination of traumatic combat wounds along with limitations of operations in austere environments may result in available disinfectants providing inadequate surgical instrument decontamination.
Materials And Methods: The study consisted of nine experimental groups and two control groups evaluating hemostatic forceps found in kits of ground surgical teams.