Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

9 INFECTION CONTROL State laws on hospital flu shots linked to fewer flu deaths By Mackenzie Bean T he implementation of state laws that require hospitals to offer employees a flu shot, or that require staff to get vaccinated, are linked to lower flu death rates, a study pub- lished in Annals of Internal Medicine found. For the study, published Jan. 5, researchers from the University of Georgia in Athens used CDC data spanning 1995 to 2017 to assess each state's flu and pneumonia mortality rate during peak flu season. Over the study period, 13 states and Washing- ton, D.C., adopted laws requiring hospitals to offer hospital employees the flu vaccine. Eleven of these states also required workers to get vac- cinated or document their refusal. The implementation of these laws was linked to a 2.5 percent drop in monthly flu and pneumonia rates, researchers found. On average, adoption of such a law cut mortality by about 2 deaths per 100,000 persons, and the reductions mainly occurred among older populations. "The elderly are extremely vulnerable to influ- enza and are also generally less responsive to the vaccine," study author Emily Lawler, PhD, assistant professor in UGA's School of Public and International Affairs, said in a news release. "This study suggests that vaccinating hospital workers against influenza reduces influenza disease transmission and helps protect this vulnerable population." n Focus on COVID-19 facilitated spread of drug-resistant infections, experts say By Erica Carbajal T he reuse of personal protective equipment in healthcare settings amid COVID-19 likely allowed drug-resistant infec- tions to spread easier, The New York Times reported Jan. 27. The Times cited a number of reports showing isolated outbreaks of various drug-resistant infections in Florida, New Jersey and California, as well as in several other countries. Particularly con- cerning to health officials are growing cases of Candida auris, a fungus the CDC calls a "serious global health threat." Between October 2019 and November 2020, the number of C. auris infec- tions in the U.S. increased from 952 to 1,625, according to data cited by the Times. Several experts who spoke to the news outlet, including Susan Huang, MD, infectious disease specialist at the University of Cali- fornia's Irvine Medical School, attributed the increase to hygiene protocol disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. "Seeing the world as a one-pathogen world is really problemat- ic," Dr. Huang said. "We have every reason to believe the prob- lem has gotten worse." Before the pandemic, PPE was changed routinely to prevent the growth of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi. Those protocols were largely abandoned given the scarce PPE supply when the pandemic hit. The demands of treating COVID-19 also led some hospitals and nursing homes to stop screening for the bacteria, leaving experts to believe the true number of infections is higher than reported. The uptick could also be linked to the use of steroids used to treat COVID-19, which can leave the immune system vulnerable to contracting other infections, experts told the Times. n 1 in 5 US residents has STI, CDC finds By Erica Carbajal N early 68 million people in the U.S. had a sexually transmitted infection in 2018, or 1 in 5 people, according to CDC data published Jan. 23 in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Of the nearly 68 million people with an STI in 2018, 26 million were newly diagnosed. More key study findings: • Young people between the ages of 15 and 24 accounted for nearly half of all new STIs in 2018. • An estimated $16 billion in lifetime medical costs from STIs were acquired in 2018, most of which were attributed to sexually acquired HIV infections. • Overall, women carried a dispropor- tionate burden of severe STI outcomes and medical costs. • "At a time when [sexually transmitted infections] are at an all-time high, they have fallen out of the national conver- sation," said Jonathan Mermin, MD, di- rector of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STI and TB prevention. "ere is an urgent need to reverse the trend of STIs, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected many STI preven- tion services." e report suggests the same strategies being used to address the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, such as express clinics with walk-in testing and partnerships with pharmacies and retail health clinics, could expand access to sexual healthcare. n

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