Personal protective equipment and improving compliance among healthcare workers in high-risk settings.

Purpose Of Review: Personal protective equipment (PPE) protects healthcare workers (HCWs) from infection by highly virulent pathogens via exposure to body fluids and respiratory droplets. Given the recent outbreaks of contagious infectious diseases worldwide, including Ebola virus and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome, there is urgent need for further research to determine optimal PPE use in high-risk settings. This review intends to provide a general understanding of PPE and to provide guidelines for appropriate use based on current evidence.

Antimicrobial stewardship for carbapenem use at a Japanese tertiary care center: An interrupted time series analysis on the impact of infectious disease consultation, prospective audit, and feedback.

Given the concerns surrounding the overuse of carbapenem antibiotics in Japan, we evaluated the impact of infectious disease consultation and a prospective carbapenem audit at a tertiary care center in Tokyo, Japan. Overall, carbapenem use was safely and effectively reduced after implementation of these interventions. The leadership of the infectious diseases physicians also proved critically important to implementing effective stewardship.

High rate of vaccine failure after administration of acellular pertussis vaccine pre- and post-liver transplantation in children at a children's hospital in Japan.

We assessed the serological response to pertussis vaccines administered pre- and post-liver transplantation in 58 pediatric patients at a children's hospital in Japan. A high rate of pertussis vaccine failure was observed, 44.8% against the pertussis toxin and 69.

A cluster of central line-associated bloodstream infections due to rapidly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria in patients with hematologic disorders at a Japanese tertiary care center: an outbreak investigation and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND Rapidly growing nontuberculous mycobacteria (RGM) are considered rare pathogens, causing central line-associated bloodstream infection. We identified an outbreak of central line-associated bloodstream infection due to RGM at a hematology-oncology ward during a 5-month period. DESIGN Outbreak investigation and literature review.

Clostridium difficile infection in solid organ transplant recipients.

Purpose Of Review: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is one of the most common healthcare-associated infections, and the threat associated with CDI continues to grow in all patient populations. There is increasing evidence that CDI has a substantial impact on the morbidity and mortality in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Furthermore, new diagnostic and treatment options and strategies for CDI have emerged over the last decade.