Disinfection Matters: July Edition

Ebola outbreak in Congo declared a global health emergency

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today declared the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

“It is time for the world to take notice and redouble our efforts. We need to work together in solidarity with the DRC to end this outbreak and build a better health system,” said Dr. Tedros. “Extraordinary work has been done for almost a year under the most difficult circumstances. We all owe it to these responders — coming from not just WHO but also government, partners and communities — to shoulder more of the burden.”

Terminal cleaning beyond 25 minutes does not improve disinfection

Spending more than 25 minutes on terminal cleaning does not improve disinfection of high-touch surfaces in patient rooms when appropriate disinfectants are used and the environmental management services, or EVS, staff are trained properly, according to results from a single-center trial.

“Appropriate disinfectant choice, proper training of EVS staff and paying attention to contact time are more important,” Chetan Jinadatha, MD, MPH, chief of infectious diseases at central Texas Veterans Health Care System and an associate professor of medicine at Texas A&M Health Science Center, told Infectious Disease News.

Hospital-acquired CDI rates persist despite enhanced cleaning

Although a cleaning intervention decreased the recovery of certain bacteria on high-touch surface areas in hospital settings, it did not reduce the incidence of health care-acquired Clostridium difficile infections, according to findings presented at The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America spring conference.

Antimicrobial stewardship program sees results in Israeli hospitals

Public health officials in Israel say a nationwide antimicrobial stewardship program has shown pronounced reduction of antibiotic use in the hospital setting during the first 4 years, but has had a smaller impact on outpatient use.

Mitchell J. Schwaber, MD, MSc, of the National Center for Infection Control in the Israel Ministry of Health (MOH), reported nationwide surveillance data of antibiotic use between 2012 and 2015 during a presentation today at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) spring conference in St. Louis.