Increases in non-COVID infections ‘wipe out’ decade of progress
By
Kimberly Marselas
Sep 03, 2021
The CDC’s new report of a spike in healthcare associated infections is alarming, says the nation’s leading infection control group. One bright spot for nursing homes: CDC found no increase in Clostridium...
Pfizer, Merck start testing COVID prevention pills in late-stage trials
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 02, 2021
The drugs, each given orally as a pill, would provide an unprecedented COVID-19 preventive medication option if brought to market.
New infection control group says it will reduce LTC citations
By
Danielle Brown
Sep 01, 2021
Long-term care providers have a new, “meaningful resource” to improve infection control practices and reduce citations, according to organizers.
Michigan to ‘rush’ vaccine booster shots to LTC facilities, governor says
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 17, 2021
Hours after federal agencies greenlit COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for immunocompromised people, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan ordered state agencies to expedite third doses to long-term care facility...
Initial COVID-19 vaccine booster rollout will affect 3 percent of U.S. population, officials say
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 13, 2021
The FDA is working with drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna to allow fully vaccinated immunocompromised people to receive an extra shot. Long-term care residents are not yet included in the booster campaign,...
Show us the data: COVID vaccine boosters may get go-ahead, but LTC docs remain wary
By
Alicia Lasek
Danielle Brown
Aug 09, 2021
Booster shots for the most vulnerable appear to be on a fast track to federal authorization. But clinicians want information about necessity, safety, dosing and more to justify prescribing an extra dose...
Antibody shot cuts COVID-19 infection risk by 66 percent after exposure, drugmaker says
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 09, 2021
Regeneron’s REGEN-COV antibody cocktail significantly reduces the relative risk of infection after exposure to a close contact infected with SARS-CoV-2, new data show. Symptomatic illness is also shorter...
‘Aggressive’ steps needed to keep deadly fungus out of nursing homes: APIC
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 29, 2021
Prevention is the best available strategy for keeping multidrug-resistant Candida auris infections from embedding in nursing homes, the infection control group says. “We may soon run out of options to...
New cases of antifungal-resistant yeast infections in nursing homes alarm CDC
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 26, 2021
For the first time, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has identified U.S. nursing home residents and hospital patients with candida auris yeast infections that resist all first-line antifungal...
Intervention clears short-stay residents’ rooms of multi-drug resistant organisms
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 23, 2021
A trial in six Michigan nursing homes that included chlorhexidine bathing significantly reduced the prevalence of drug-resistant organisms in the residents’ rooms when compared with control nursing homes,...