Voting Booth Disinfection Efficacy Study
The November 3, 2020 election in the United States will be historic in that it will be conducted during a pandemic. Although mail-in ballots will be an option for many eligible voters, thousands of…
Perspective
Practitioners, researchers and innovators share their experience and views. Perspectives are edited but not peer-reviewed.
Hand Hygiene: Unexpected Challenges and Cutting-Edge Solutions
Hand washing has taken on renewed importance during the COVID-19 health crisis. Employees in the food service and health care fields have been shown to wash hands inconsistently and ineffectively, despite emphasis on heightened…
Q&A April 1, Webinar: N95 USE, Disinfection and REUSE
The following document represents some of the Questions and Answers from the TIPS Master Class Webinar held on April 1, 2020. You can watch the full presentation here: N95 RESPIRATOR USE, DISINFECTION AND RE-USE:…
Overview of Chemical Disinfection of N95 FFRs
LIVE DOCUMENT: Last updated April 2, 2020 3:53 PM EDT We will update this document as new information becomes available Introduction Disinfection and re-use of N95 full facepiece respirators is of critical interest during…
COVID-19: Firsthand Account from Qingdao, China
In this communication from Richard Page, he shares his firsthand experience being in Qingdao during the outbreak of COVID-19. Using years of training and experience, Richard provides his own personal action plan on how…
Basics of Infection Prevention and Control with Special Reference to Human Respiratory Coronaviruses
Background Coronaviruses often cause self-limiting respiratory infections similar to the ‘common cold’. However, infections by certain types of such viruses can lead to potentially fatal pneumonia. In less than the past two decades, three…
Coronavirus Article Round Up by Dr. Rodney Rohde
Medical laboratory and public health professionals play an integral role in the healthcare system by not only providing diagnostic services that directly impact therapeutic management of patients, but also by offering their expertise in…
Human Pathogenic Coronaviruses: Understanding Their Environmental Survival For Better Infection Prevention And Control
Coronaviruses (CoV) are significant pathogens of humans and animals. Though they were first identified as the cause of respiratory infections in humans in 1965, the advent of a new CoV in the etiology of…
COVID-19: The Straight Facts
THIS DOCUMENT IS NO LONGER UPDATED Evolving Document - Last Updated: October 30, 2020 - With the current outbreak, it is important to discern what are the real facts, and what is sensationalized by…
Environmental Mycobacteria: Emerging Pathogens Lurking Closer to Home!
While mycobacteria are well-known causes of tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy, many other species, variously called ‘nontuberculous mycobacteria’, ‘atypical mycobacteria’ and ‘mycobacteria other than tuberculosis’, are emerging pathogens of global significance. In contrast to the…
The AMR Challenge: Accelerating the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance
Later this month, as world leaders assemble at the 74th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US HHS Secretary, Alex Azar, will host experts from the Centers for Disease Control and…
Responsible Processes for Electrostatic Sprayer Systems
The advent of more efficient and effective electrostatic spraying technologies has made it possible to maintain cleaner and healthier facilities than ever before. Yet, this opportunity has also given rise to new risks that…
Building Water Systems: The Sustainability and Public Health Nexus
The healthcare system is complex and often disjointed in its planning and policy-making. Decisions about patient care and building care rarely have the same personnel at the table, and yet a healthy building infrastructure…
Misleading Math: Kill Claims and Log Reduction
Logarithmic reduction is pervasive in the cleaning and disinfection literature, but many do not appreciate what it actually describes. The EPA guidelines on disinfection state that a greater than or equal to 6-fold logarithmic…
Leveraging Combination Disinfection for Floors
Floors are an underappreciated fomite or source of pathogens. These pathogens can transfer to our hands, and from there, further spread to other surfaces including our mucosal surfaces, which can make us sick. Unfortunately,…
It’s Time to Dry Out
The importance of handwashing in preventing the spread of disease has been hailed as the single most effective way to prevent the spread of disease (CDC, 2018) and handwashing protocols have been established and…
Antimicrobial Resistance: Too Much Study, Not Enough Action, No Time to Lose
We have known about the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for so long that it seems as though we should have solutions in hand by now to save lives. However, news from around the…
The Power of Data to Improve Hand Hygiene and Reduce HAIs
While hand hygiene is widely considered to be the most important factor in preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), hand hygiene compliance rates in hospitals still average around 40 percent. Improving hand hygiene has been a…
Beyond Clean: Sustainability to Improve Health
What is sustainability? Strictly speaking, it’s ensuring that we can continue with our daily activities without any consequences to our collective outcomes. In healthcare, this has meant reducing the carbon or waste footprint from…
Visualizing Infection Control Data Combats Healthcare Costs
In a data rich infection prevention environment, data is likely available concerning infection rates, disinfection events, clinical events, facilities, employee training, inspections/audits, hand hygiene and more. Turning all this seemingly disparate data into an…
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