Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

8 INFECTION CONTROL & PATIENT SAFETY Bill Gates: We aren't ready for deadly flu pandemic By Megan Knowles I n his annual "What I learned at work this year" letter, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said he believes the next deadly epidemic will be the flu — and humanity may not be equipped to handle it. In the letter, Mr. Gates reflected on issues from 2018 and predicted what may happen this year. Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic, which infected 500 million people world- wide and killed about 50 million, according to the CDC. "I had hoped that hitting the 100th anniversary of this epidemic would spark a lot of discussion about whether we're ready for the next global epidemic," Mr. Gates wrote. "Unfortunately, it didn't, and we still are not ready. "If anything is going to kill tens of millions of people in a short time, it will probably be a global epidemic. And the disease would most likely be a form of the flu, because the flu virus spreads easily through the air," Mr. Gates wrote. "Today a flu as contagious and lethal as the 1918 one would kill nearly 33 million people in just six months." Developing a universal flu vaccine is crucial for keeping a global outbreak from happening, but researchers still face challenges in making this vaccine, Mr. Gates said. "The problem is a long way from being solved, but new research money is coming in and more scientists are working on it," he wrote. "The world needs to devel- op a global system for monitoring and responding to epidemics. That is a political matter that requires international cooperation among government leaders. This issue deserves a lot more focus." n Johns Hopkins hires former prosecutor to probe safety issues at All Children's By Megan Knowles T he Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees appointed a former feder- al prosecutor to lead its investigation into patient safety issues at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital's Heart Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., according to the Tampa Bay Times. F. Joseph Warin and his team "will review the events that led Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital to suspend heart surgeries at the Heart Institute and will re- port their findings to a special committee of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees no later than May of this year," the health system said. The health system also said it would name an independent monitor at All Children's to "make sure that the hospital is being held accountable for taking corrective action where necessary" after the review is finished. The announcement included a video of Johns Hopkins Health System President Kev- in Sowers offering apologies to the community, referring providers and hospital staff. The Tampa Bay Times first publicized safety issues in the All Children's heart surgery program in late November. A Times investigation found the mortality rate for heart surgery patients tripled from 2015 to 2017, and was the highest for any Florida heart surgery program in the last 10 years. Six senior officials left the hospital after the report's release, including the CEO, three vice presidents and two surgeons who held leadership positions in the Heart Institute. A seventh official stepped down from his role as chief of surgery but is still employed at the hospital. n Woman tests positive for hep B after sterilization breach at New Jersey clinic By Mackenzie Bean A New Jersey woman tested positive for hepatitis B in January aer undergoing surgery at a healthcare facility where infection control lapses potentially exposed more than 3,700 patients to HIV and hepatitis, reported Reuters. e 58-year-old patient, whose identity was not released, had shoulder surgery at Saddle Brook, N.J.-based HealthPlus Surgery Center last year. e facility closed Sept. 7, 2018, aer health officials identified issues with sterilization processes and sanitation requirements. e health department recommended 3,778 patients who visited HealthPlus during the first nine months of 2018 get tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. e woman learned she tested positive for hepatitis B in early 2019, Marc Held, one of her attorneys, told Reuters Jan. 3. She is a plaintiff in a class-action complaint filed against HealthPlus Dec. 31. e state health department is conducting a comprehensive analysis to determine whether positive test results reflect a pre-existing condition, according to Mark Manigan, Health- Plus' attorney. "To our knowledge, no infection has been linked to exposure at HealthPlus and definitive results may be weeks or months away," he told Reuters in January. n

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