Publications by authors named "Richard Ellison"

Article Synopsis
  • - The COVID-19 pandemic revealed confusion about what constitutes aerosol-generating procedures and the associated risks to healthcare workers.
  • - A group of healthcare epidemiologists in Massachusetts came together to create a shared understanding of these procedures.
  • - Their goal was to establish expert consensus in a field that lacked clear guidelines during the height of the pandemic.
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Rezafungin is a semisynthetic, long-acting echinocandin with broad-spectrum activity against many species and species, including a subset of drug-resistant strains. It is currently in phase III trials and was found to be safe and effective for the treatment of candidemia and/or invasive infections in a phase II trial. However, there are no long-term safety or efficacy data.

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Background: Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) toxin in Staphylococcus aureus has been associated with both severe pneumonia and skin and soft tissue infections. However, there are only limited data on how this virulence factor may influence the clinical course or complications of bacteremic S. aureus infections.

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Decontamination of N95 respirators is being used by clinicians in the face of a global shortage of these devices. Some treatments for decontamination, such as some vaporized hydrogen peroxide methods or ultraviolet methods, had no impact on respiratory performance, while other treatments resulted in substantial damage to masks.

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Candida auris is a yeast that is difficult to eradicate and has caused outbreaks in health care facilities. We report a cluster of 5 patients in 1 intensive care unit who were colonized or infected in 2017. The initial 2 patients were recipients of liver transplants who had cultures that grew C auris within 3 days of each other in June 2017 (days 43 and 30 posttransplant).

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The number of onsite clinical microbiology laboratories in hospitals is decreasing, likely related to the business model for laboratory consolidation and labor shortages, and this impacts a variety of clinical practices, including that of banking isolates for clinical or epidemiologic purposes. To determine the impact of these trends, infectious disease (ID) physicians were surveyed regarding their perceptions of offsite services. Clinical microbiology practices for retention of clinical isolates for future use were also determined.

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Background: Determining infectious cross-transmission events in healthcare settings involves manual surveillance of case clusters by infection control personnel, followed by strain typing of clinical/environmental isolates suspected in said clusters. Recent advances in genomic sequencing and cloud computing now allow for the rapid molecular typing of infecting isolates.

Objective: To facilitate rapid recognition of transmission clusters, we aimed to assess infection control surveillance using whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of microbial pathogens to identify cross-transmission events for epidemiologic review.

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Objective: To describe the degree of community support - and factors associated with this support - for a number of potential transport policy options among an inner-city sample of residents in Sydney, Australia.

Methods: This study analysed data collected from a cross-sectional online survey: Wave 3 of the Sydney Transport and Health Study, conducted in September-October 2015 (n=418).

Results: There was a high level of overall support for policies to make public transport cheaper (85%), have more bicycle paths separated from motor vehicles (82%) and have a public bike-share program (72%), with similar levels of support across usual commute mode, age and sex.

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The epidemic of illicit intravenous drug use (IVDU) in the United States has been accompanied by a surge in drug overdose deaths and infectious sequelae. Candida albicans infections were associated with injection of contaminated impure brown heroin in the 1970s-1990s; however, candidiasis accompanying IVDU became considerably rarer as the purity of the heroin supply increased. We reviewed cases of candidemia occurring over a recent 7-year period in persons >14 years of age at a tertiary care hospital in central Massachusetts.

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Background: The rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in U.S. ICUs have decreased significantly, and a parallel reduction in the rates of total hospital-onset bacteremias in these units should also be expected.

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We investigated the duration of Ebola virus (EBOV) RNA and infectious EBOV in semen specimens of 5 Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors. EBOV RNA and infectious EBOV was detected by real-time RT-PCR and virus culture out to 290 days and 70 days, respectively, after EVD onset.

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We report a case of probable Zaire Ebola virus-related ophthalmologic complications in a physician from the United States who contracted Ebola virus disease in Liberia. Uveitis, immune activation, and nonspecific increase in antibody titers developed during convalescence. This case highlights immune phenomena that could complicate management of Ebola virus disease-related uveitis during convalescence.

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Approximately 3% of Staphylococcus aureus strains that, according to results of conventional phenotypic methods, are highly susceptible to methicillin-like antibiotics also have polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results positive for mecA. The genetic nature of these mecA-positive methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) strains has not been investigated.

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Background.  The use of electronic hand hygiene reminder systems has been proposed as an approach to improve hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers, although information on efficacy is limited. We prospectively assessed whether hand hygiene activities among healthcare workers could be increased using an electronic hand hygiene monitoring and reminder system.

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Background: Isolated perivesicular hematomas are uncommonly described and not an injury typically reported in the literature after parachuting or skydiving.

Case Report: Herein, we described a series of three patients with isolated perivesicular hematomas sustained after military parachuting. All three patients were managed nonoperatively after a somewhat prolonged hospital course.

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We report a case of pulmonary Rhizopus microsporus infection in a patient with untreated diabetes following brush clearing. The patient was successfully treated with a combined medical and surgical approach with complete resolution of the lung lesions and remains asymptomatic at 11-month follow-up.

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Objectives: The primary aim of the study was to measure the test characteristics of the National Health Safety Network ventilator-associated event/ventilator-associated condition constructs for detecting ventilator-associated pneumonia. Its secondary aims were to report the clinical features of patients with National Health Safety Network ventilator-associated event/ventilator-associated condition, measure costs of surveillance, and its susceptibility to manipulation.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

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A near-miss patient incident involving body fluid seeping from a mattress led to a visual inspection of 656 hospital bed mattresses of which 177 were contaminated because of occult damage to mattress covers.

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