Infection Control

Bacteria from a water purification system may be linked to three deaths at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, according to research published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Healthcare workers who had symptoms after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination had longer and stronger immunity than those who did not, researchers at Farmington, Conn.-based UConn Health, found, according to a March 6 news release.

Ahead of the ending COVID-19 emergency, several hospitals and health systems have begun to walk back their mask rules. 

Denver Health and Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth plan to lift universal mask mandates March 1, Colorado Public Radio reported Feb. 27. 

Raleigh-based North Carolina State University researchers developed an inhalable powder that can help protect a person's lungs and airways from viral infections.

Hospitalized patients taking proton pump inhibitors — medications used to treat heartburn — may be at a higher risk of acquiring multidrug-resistant bacteria, according to a study published Feb. 23 in JAMA Network Open. 

An 11-year-old Florida boy died of flesh-eating bacteria after spraining his ankle, NBC affiliate WESH reported Feb. 18.

Researchers at the University of Central Florida secured a patent for a "nanomaterial-based disinfectant that can kill several viruses," including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the Orlando-based school said Feb. 20. 

Health officials in Mississippi are continuing to watch the growing number of cases of Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungal infection, which is now believed to be the cause of four deaths in the state, according to a Feb. 20 report…

A recent study found a link between gender and the department in which a patient is hospitalized and mortality and length of stay.