Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1495475
10 INFECTION CONTROL Hospital-acquired sepsis cases jumped nearly 50% in California amid pandemic By Erica Carbajal I n the first year of the pandemic, another problem quietly grew: hospital-acquired sepsis. Across California hospitals, the number of patients who developed sepsis while in the hospital increased by 46 percent between 2019 and 2021, according to a Feb. 5 report from the Los Angeles Times. Data from the California Department of Healthcare Access and Information cited by the news outlet shows there were 30,495 cases of hospital-acquired sepsis statewide in 2021, up nearly 50 percent from 2019. "Sepsis is a leading cause of death in hospitals. It's been true for a long time — and it's become even more true during the pandemic," Kedar Mate, MD, president and chief executive of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, told the news outlet, adding that nationwide, the condition kills more people annually than breast cancer, HIV and AIDS, and opioid overdoses combined. Across the U.S., healthcare-associated infections increased significantly in 2020 aer years of steady decline. e increase was fueled by various pandemic-related challenges, such as staffing shortages and high patient caseloads, which impeded hospitals' ability to maintain standard infection prevention and control practices. CDC data published in November suggests this trend continued in 2021, with four of six regularly tracked HAIs increasing by a range of 5 percent to 14 percent. COVID-19 infection itself also elevates the risk of sepsis, especially among older adults who are hospitalized. In California, nearly 40 percent of severe sepsis patients who died at hospitals in 2021 had COVID-19, according to state data cited by the Los Angeles Times. Sepsis is infamously known for being difficult to detect in its early stages, when treatment is most effective. Hospitals are trying different efforts to ensure the condition is spotted as early as possible, including technology that uses EMR data to alert providers when a patient shows markers of deterioration. n Elon Musk's Neuralink company may have risked human exposure to deadly pathogens By Marcus Robertson A fter coming under fire from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink is under investigation by the Department of Transportation for allegedly risking human exposure to deadly pathogens via contaminated hardware, CNBC reported Feb. 11. In 2019, untrained Neuralink employees allegedly mishandled implants removed from the brains of monkeys that may have been contaminated with antibiotic-resistant pathogens including Staphylococcus and Klebsiella and other bacteria, and viruses including herpes B. The devices may also have been contaminated with Corynebacterium ulcerans, a recognized "emerging human pathogen" that can produce fatal diphtheria, according to a PCRM news release. The PCRM obtained records from the University of California Davis, a Neuralink research partner, that showed researchers raised concerns about mishandled materials. "Since the hardware components of the explanted neural device are not sealed and it was not disinfected prior to leaving the Primate Center, this presents a hazard for anyone potentially coming in contact with the device," the UC Davis staffer said in an email. "Simply labeling it 'hazardous' doesn't account for the risk of potentially contracting Herpes B." Later, a UC Davis employee wrote that "devices had made their way back [to the university] in an open box," and that "we are making a big deal about this because we are concerned for human safety." Neuralink did not respond to CNBC's request for comment. n Image Credit: Adobe Stock