A CDC advisory committee convened last week to revisit the agency's draft infection control guidelines for healthcare facilities, voting in favor of recommendations that remain largely unchanged despite ongoing criticism.

Taking antibiotics while ill with the flu may increase the risk of developing bacterial pneumonia, according to new findings from researchers at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai. 

Researchers at Morgantown-based West Virginia University are working to reduce antibiotic-resistant infections in open bone fractures by using nanotechnology.

 Hospitals may better prevent the spread of Candida auris by broadening screening protocols to include all patients admitted from skilled nursing facilities, according to a new study from researchers at New York City-based Mount Sinai. 

Fewer than 1 in 6 healthcare staff received a COVID-19 booster during the 2023 to 2024 respiratory virus season, CDC data shows. 

The FDA has approved a new oral antibiotic to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

The CDC expects the peak number of hospitalizations for flu, COVID-19 and RSV this winter to be similar to or lower than that of last season, though higher than this summer's peak.

As part of its five-year national program to improve MRSA prevention practices across healthcare facilities, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has published a prevention toolkit for ICU and non-ICU settings. 

A seven-day antibiotic course for patients with bloodstream infections was as effective as a 14-day course, and it had a lower mortality rate, a recent study found.

Boston Children's Hospital researchers sought to identify the optimal staffing model for pediatric infection prevention amid current shortfalls in infection preventionist staffing ratios.

University of Pennsylvania and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers have developed the first mRNA Clostridioides difficile vaccine — and it's shown promising results in animal models.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health is notifying an unspecified number of patients who may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B and C during endoscopy procedures at a clinic on the health system's main campus, FOX affiliate WZTV reported Oct. 11. 

Hospitals with lower staffing levels in infection prevention and control teams have higher rates of healthcare-associated infections, according to an Oct. 10 study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

At four hospitals, 46 patients experienced Burkholderia multivorans infections from contaminations within ice machines, the CDC said in its Oct. 3 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 

The winter COVID-19 wave may be smaller this year; the flu virus has mutated and vaccines are expected to not be as effective; and experts are keeping a close eye on possible human-to-human transmission in avian flu, Johns Hopkins public health experts said.

St. Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine researchers found that fidaxomicin, a treatment for Clostridioides difficile infection, has increased in use but "remains underutilized."

A CDC advisory committee has been working to update an influential set of infection control guidelines since August 2023. Over the past year, the agency has faced growing pressure from clinicians, who have criticized early versions of the updated guidance for putting surgical masks on par with N95s.

Hospitals in Alaska have the lowest rate of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the country, CDC data shows. 

Vaccine hesitancy appears to be driving up infection rates among diseases like whooping cough, measles and COVID-19.

New Mexico has the highest rate of Clostridium difficile infections for the second year, while Nevada has the lowest, federal data shows.