Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

29 INFECTION CONTROL & PATIENT SAFETY IDSA Updates Guidance for Invasive Mold Infections: 5 Things to Know By Heather Punke T he Infectious Diseases Society of America recently released new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of aspergillosis, an invasive, potentially deadly fungal infection. Here are five things to know about the mold and the IDSA's new guidance. 1. Aspergillosis is caused by Aspergillus, an airborne mold that can live in air conditioning units, compost piles and damp or flood-dam- aged homes and buildings. People at highest risk for an infection include immunosuppressed patients, patients in the intensive care unit, people with severe influenza or people on long-term steroids. 2. Aspergillosis comes in three forms: an allergic reaction, a chronic lung infection and an invasive infection. Invasive aspergillosis affects roughly 200,000 people worldwide and can kill 40 to 80 percent of those infected. 3. IDSA's new guidelines, published in Clinical Infectious Diseas- es, update its 2008 guidance. e guidance urges early diagnosis through new means like blood tests, cultures and computed tomog- raphy imaging. 4. e guidance covers new, better-tolerated antifungal medications and new versions of existing medications. 5. Some at-risk patients — including those with neutropenia and gra versus host disease — should be treated with antifungals to prevent an infection, according to the new guidelines. n FDA, CDC Warn Hospitals of Multistate Burkholderia Bacteria Outbreak By Max Green T he CDC and the Food and Drug Administra- tion are sounding the alarm on Burkholderia cepacia, bacteria causing infections primari- ly in ventilated patients without cystic fibrosis who are being treated in intensive care units. The bacteria usually trigger infections that are resistant to certain antibiotics, making them life-threatening. The CDC reports the outbreak may be linked to a contaminated liquid docusate product and recommends hospitals refrain from using such products in all patient populations until more information becomes available. "Institutions with non-cystic fibrosis patients in whom there are B. cepacia infections should sequester all liquid docusate products," the CDC statement reads. The CDC urges providers to report all cases of B. ce- pacia infection to local and state health authorities. n Hospitals Need to Step Up Cellphone Cleaning Protocol, Study Finds By Heather Punke A study out of the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne in France shows mobile devices used by hospital workers harbor viral RNA, and a large chunk of healthcare work- ers don't wash their hands before or after using their mobile devices. Researchers sampled cellphones and hospital cordless phones used by 114 healthcare workers and published their findings in Clinical Microbiology and Infection. According to Select Science's coverage of the study, viral RNA was found on 38.5 percent of the devices, the most common finding being rotavirus RNA. They found respiratory syncytial virus on three phones. The researchers also surveyed the healthcare workers regarding when they used their devices. Surprisingly, though 64 percent of them used the phones during patient care, 20 percent ad- mitted to never doing hand hygiene procedures before or after using their phone, even though they knew the phones could have pathogens on them. One of the study authors told Select Science the study should "encourage hospitals to step up hand hygiene protocols and to institute better protocols for cleaning and disinfecting both mobile phones and hospital phones." n

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