Showing posts with label Infections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infections. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

General Hospital Hazards

The Hazards of Hospitals
Created by: Medical Billing and Coding

Infographic: The hazards of hospitals

Hospitals are supposed to be places of healing. But as this infographic shows, threats like superbugs, sloppy records and sleepy interns can make U.S. hospitals surprisingly dangerous.




Wednesday, May 26, 2010

One Needle, One Syringe, Only ONE Time




One needle, One syringe, Only ONE Time


Healthcare Coalition Launches New Training Video to halt spread of infections and address a serious public health problem


ATLANTA, May 26, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — To help healthcare workers improve patient safety, the Safe Injection Practices Coalition (SIPC) is launching a new educational video for U.S. healthcare providers that is a straight-to-the-point, 10-minute lesson on safe injection practices.

The video is targeted to healthcare providers who regularly administer or supervise injections and is about their responsibility to protect patients from healthcare-associated infections. The video is based on evidence-based and common sense safe injection practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Recent outbreaks and patient notifications show the need for continued training about unsafe injection practices.

The 10-minute video promotes safe injection practices by showing healthcare providers working in situations where injections are given. By dispelling common misperceptions, such as the belief that it is safe to administer medication from single-dose vials to multiple patients, the video discusses basic, evidence-based precautions, that must be used at all times to protect patients and prevent disease transmission due to unsafe injection practices.

“One infection due to unsafe injection practices is unacceptable,” says Dr. Michael Bell, deputy director for infection control at CDC and narrator of the video. “Every healthcare provider has the responsibility to ensure that all injections given to patients are safe, and we hope that this video will help make that happen.”

Dr. Evelyn McKnight, Au.D., president and co-founder of the Hepatitis Outbreaks National Organization for Reform (HONOReform) Foundation, and a SIPC member who is featured in the video, was battling a recurrence of breast cancer when she became one of 99 Nebraska cancer patients to be infected with hepatitis C virus because her healthcare providers reused syringes to access a shared bag of saline.

“By addressing the urgent need for education and heightened awareness about safe injection practices, we hope to avoid further tragedies,” says McKnight. “Through this and other Coalition-led educational activities, we hope to make outbreaks due to syringe reuse ‘never’ events. No patient should ever have to worry about contracting a disease while seeking medical care or treatment.”

The video is part of the One & Only Campaign, a national public health education and awareness initiative developed by the SIPC. SIPC is comprised of patient advocacy organizations, foundations, provider associations and industry partners, together with CDC, and has united to halt disease transmission caused by unsafe injection practices in United States healthcare facilities. The campaign name refers to the importance of healthcare personnel using “one needle, one syringe, only one time” to protect patients from bloodborne viruses and other pathogens.



Toll of Unsafe Injection Practices
Since 1999, more than 125,000 Americans have received letters alerting them of potential exposure to infection with hepatitis viruses or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) due to unsafe injection practices such as the reuse of syringes, according to CDC.

A lack of understanding of and adherence to safe injection practices by healthcare personnel has resulted in more than 30 outbreaks of viral hepatitis and other healthcare-associated infections in the United States since 1999. Most of these outbreaks and infections occurred in non-hospital healthcare facilities, according to CDC. A patient notification resulting from unsafe injection practices at an endoscopy clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008 required health officials to alert more than 50,000 patients who had been potentially exposed to bloodborne viruses.

In addition to the toll on physical and emotional health, these outbreaks are costly. The patient notification, response and testing of the hepatitis C outbreak at the Las Vegas, Nevada endoscopy clinic is estimated to have cost between $16 million and $21 million.

The video can be viewed at the One & Only Campaign Web site, www.oneandonlycampaign.org.



About the Safe Injection Practices Coalition
Founded in June 2008, the Safe Injection Practices Coalition is comprised of patient advocacy organizations, foundations, provider associations, industry partners and CDC, and united to halt unsafe injection practices. The Coalition focuses its efforts on advancing and promoting safe injection practices by informing and educating healthcare professionals and the public, especially in outpatient settings. Issues of particular concern include the reuse of syringes and misuse of single-use and multi-dose vials. In addition to creating and distributing the Safe Injection Practices Video for Healthcare Providers, the Coalition has launched pilot campaigns promoting safe injection practices in Nevada and New York, two states in which disease outbreaks have occurred.

Coalition partners include the following organizations: Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), Ambulatory Surgery Foundation, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA), Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CDC Foundation, Covidien, Hospira, HONOReform Foundation, National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), Nebraska Medical Association (NMA), Nevada State Medical Association (NSMA), and Premier healthcare alliance.



Media Contacts:
Janet Skidmore
215-658-4915 (landline)
215-429-2917 (mobile)
skidmorecomm@earthlink.net

Karen Orwin
914-907-4740 (mobile)
karen.orwin@kynecommunications.com



Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sanofi Pasteur Obtains License from Syntiron to Develop & Commercialize Vaccine to Prevent Staphylococcus Infections

16 Dec 2009 15:00 Africa/Lagos

Sanofi Pasteur Obtains License from Syntiron to Develop & Commercialize Vaccine to Prevent Staphylococcus Infections

- Those infections are a major health concern no longer confined to the intensive care unit -

LYON, France, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive, world-wide licensing agreement with Syntiron to develop and commercialize its prophylactic vaccine against Staphylococcus, including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. MRSA are responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans, sometimes referred to as multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus because these bacteria are resistant to a large group of antibiotics, including penicillins.


Syntiron is a private biotech company located in St. Paul, Minnesota; its mission is the prevention and treatment of human disease resulting from bacterial infection. Under the terms of the agreement, Sanofi Pasteur will support the joint, pre-clinical development of the product, working cooperatively with Syntiron, and be responsible for all future developments, regulatory approval, and commercialization of the vaccine. The agreement includes an undisclosed initial licensing fee, milestone payments, and royalty payments on future sales of the product.


"This agreement with Syntiron is just another example of Sanofi Pasteur's interest in partnering with biotechs to produce innovative vaccines to address public health needs," said Wayne Pisano, President and Chief Executive Office of Sanofi Pasteur. "Along with our development of a vaccine to prevent Clostridium difficile infection, the successful development of a vaccine to prevent MRSA would be a major achievement in combating hospital-associated infections."


About Staphylococcus aureus


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacterium that is resistant to certain antibiotics. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s website, these antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems. MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as community associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.


According to the Internet Journal of Infectious Diseases, MRSA has become one of the most important pathogens that cause post-operative infections, and, in the U.S., it accounts for up to 40 percent of nosocomial (hospital-associated) Staphylococcus aureus infections in large hospitals and 25-30 percent in smaller hospitals. In Europe, MRSA prevalence ranges from over 50 percent in Portugal and Italy to below 2 percent in Switzerland and the Netherlands. In Asia, the prevalence lies around 50 percent, with extremely high rates in Hong Kong (75 percent) and Japan (72 percent). In many African hospitals the prevalence of MRSA is estimated at 15 percent, with Kenya and Nigeria having the highest prevalence of 21-30 percent. And according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, MRSA is now endemic in many hospitals, being one of the leading causes of nosocomial pneumonia and surgical site infection and the second leading cause of nosocomial blood stream infections.


About sanofi-aventis


Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions to improve the lives of everyone. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE:SNY) . For more information, visit: www.sanofi-aventis.com Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, provided more than 1.6 billion doses of vaccine in 2008, making it possible to immunize more than 500 million people across the globe. A world leader in the vaccine industry, Sanofi Pasteur offers the broadest range of vaccines protecting against 20 infectious diseases. The company's heritage, to create vaccines that protect life, dates back more than a century. Sanofi Pasteur is the largest company entirely dedicated to vaccines. Every day, the company invests more than EUR 1 million in research and development. For more information, please visit: www.sanofipasteur.com or www.sanofipasteur.us


Forward Looking Statements


This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives, intentions and expectations with respect to future events, operations, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "plans" and similar expressions. Although sanofi-aventis' management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of sanofi-aventis, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in the public filings with the SEC and the AMF made by sanofi-aventis, including those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in sanofi-aventis' annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2008. Other than as required by applicable law, sanofi-aventis does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.


Source: Sanofi Pasteur

CONTACT: Global Media Relations, Pascal Barollier, +33-(0)4-37-37-50-38,
media@sanofipasteur.com, or US Media Relations, Susan Watkins,
+1-570-957-2563, susan.watkins@sanofipasteur.com


Web Site: http://www.sanofipasteur.com/
http://www.sanofi-aventis.com/