CDC has developed this slide set for use by staff development, infection control, and occupational health personnel for training healthcare personnel on how to select and use personal protective equipment PPE to protect themselves from exposure to microbiological hazards in the healthcare setting
Website last accessed on 31.03.2023
Dengue vaccine for 9 to 16 year old's with previous dengue infection.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Course is designed to increase knowledge and develop competency in the management of patients suspected of infection with dengue virus.
Is your child’s ear hurting? It could be an ear infection. Children are more likely than adults to get ear infections. Talk to your child’s doctor about the best treatment. Some ear infections, such as middle ear infections, need antibiotic treatment, but many can get better on their own without... antibiotics.
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For use with travelers who might have been exposed to patients with Ebola and are sick with symptoms consistent with Ebola infection and require further evaluation
Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are a significant burden globally, with millions of patients affected each year. These infections affect both high- and limited-resource healthcare settings, but in limited-resource settings, rates are approximately twice as high as high-resource settings (15 o...ut of every 100 patients versus 7 out of every 100 patients). Furthermore, rates of infections within certain patient populations are significantly higher in limited-resource settings, including surgical patients, patients in intensive-care units (ICU) and neonatal units. It is well documented that environmental contamination plays a role in the transmission of HAIs in healthcare settings. Therefore, environmental cleaning is a fundamental intervention for infection prevention and control (IPC).It is a multifaceted intervention that involves cleaning and disinfection (when indicated) of the environment alongside other key program elements to support successful implementation (e.g., leadership support, training, monitoring, and feedback mechanisms). To be effective, environmental cleaning activities must be implemented within the framework of the facility IPC program, and not as a standalone intervention. It is also essential that IPC programs advocate for and work with facility administration and government officials to budget, operate and maintain adequate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure to ensure that environmental cleaning can be performed according to best practices.
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Tools and resources for occupational safety and health professionals and state and local public health officials assessing manufacturing facilities.
Occupational safety and health professionals and state and local public health officials can use these tools to assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID...-19) infection prevention and control measures at manufacturing facilities, as well as these facilities’ overall hazard assessment and control plans
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Key messages for professionals working at hospitals and other healthcare settings: managers/administrators, infectious disease specialists, infection prevention and control professionals, epidemiologists, prescribers, junior doctors and students, pharmacists, nurses, clinical microbiologists, and pr...ofessionals in emergency departments, in intensive care units, and in long-term care facilities.
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Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease that is found in parts of the tropics, subtropics, and southern Europe. Leishmaniasis is caused by infection with Leishmania parasites, which are spread by the bite of infected sand flies. There are several different forms of leishmaniasis in people. The most com...mon forms are cutaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores, and visceral leishmaniasis, which affects several internal organs (usually spleen, liver, and bone marrow).
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Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease that is transmitted by sandflies and caused by obligate intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania. Human infection is caused by about 21 of 30 species that infect mammals. These include the L. donovani complex with 3 species (L. donovani, L. infantum, and... L. chagasi); the L. mexicana complex with 3 main species (L. mexicana, L. amazonensis, and L. venezuelensis); L. tropica; L. major; L. aethiopica; and the subgenus Viannia with 4 main species (L. (V.) braziliensis, L. (V.) guyanensis, L. (V.) panamensis, and L. (V.) peruviana). The different species are morphologically indistinguishable, but they can be differentiated by isoenzyme analysis, molecular methods, or monoclonal antibodies.
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Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, is a neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus. It is transmitted through repeated bites by blackflies of the genus Simulium. The disease is called river blindness because the blackfly that transmits the infection lives and ...breeds near fast-flowing streams and rivers, mostly near remote rural villages. The infection can result in visual impairment and sometimes blindness. Additionally, onchocerciasis can cause skin disease, including intense itching, rashes, or nodules under the skin. Worldwide onchocerciasis is second only to trachoma as an infectious cause of blindness.
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March 2020
The number of African Union Member States reporting COVID-
19 cases is increasing and there is a likelihood of community transmission. The WHO recently modified the COVID-19 suspect case definition to include severe acute respiratory infection and advises testing of all severe acute res...piratory illness (SARI) cases.1 However, many Member States have not yet started implementing these changes, they are still focussing surveillance efforts on individuals with travel history to an area with local COVID-19 transmission. This means patients with similar symptoms, but no apparent contact, may not
be investigated.
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CDC’s Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs suggests that pharmacists review antibiotic therapy that is unnecessarily duplicative, including the use of agents with overlapping spectra. The combination of two agents with anaerobic activity is unnecessary in most cases. Exception...s may include Clostridioides difficile infection, necrotizing fasciitis, and certain biliary infections.
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This document aims to present an algorithm for deciding whom to test and provide guidance on the laboratory tests for Zika virus infection diagnosis in order to support clinical diagnostic and case reporting through surveillance among EU Member States. The algorithm is not intended for clinical man...agement of patients with suspected Zika virus infection.
The information is provisional and subject to revision when new information becomes available.
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The aim of this handbook is to provide network members and other laboratories involved in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, with an agreed list of key diagnostic methods and their protocols in various areas of TB diagnosis, ranging from microbiological diagnosis of active TB to the diagnosis of latent ...TB infection. This handbook offers a single source of reference by compiling all methods, with a strong focus on standard (reference) and evidence-based methods. In so doing, it will also contribute to the improvement of disease surveillance data for Europe.
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Mpox is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the mpox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus closely related to the variola virus that causes smallpox. Mpox was first discovered in 1958 when outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research. The first human case was recorde...d in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox and since then the infection has been reported in a number of African countries. Mpox can spread in humans through close contact, usually skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, with an infected person or animal, as well as with materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, beddings and towels, and respiratory droplets in prolonged face to face contact. People remain infectious from the onset of symptoms until all the lesions have scabbed and healed. The virus may spread from infected animals through handling infected meat or through bites or scratches. Diagnosis is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of material from a lesion for the virus’s DNA. Two separate clades of the mpox virus are currently circulating in Africa: Clade I, which includes subclades Ia and Ib, and Clade II, comprising subclades IIa and IIb. Clade Ia and Clade Ib have been associated with ongoing human-to-human transmission and are presently responsible for outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while Clade Ib is also contributing to outbreaks in Burundi and other countries.
In 2022‒2023 mpox caused a global outbreak in over 110 countries, most of which had no previous history of the disease, primarily driven by human-to-human transmission of clade II through sexual contact. In just over a year, over 90,000 cases and 150 deaths were reported to the WHO. For the second time since 2022, mpox has been declared a global health emergency as the virus spreads rapidly across the African continent. On 13 Aug 2024, Africa CDC declared the ongoing mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), marking the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.7 This declaration empowered the Africa CDC to lead and coordinate responses to the mpox outbreak across affected African countries. On August 14, 2024, the WHO declared the resurgence of mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) emphasizing the need for coordinated international response.
As of August 2024, Mpox has expanded beyond its traditional endemic regions, with new cases reported in countries including Sweden, Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Sweden has confirmed its first case of Clade 1 variant, which has been rapidly spreading in Africa, particularly in DRC. The emergence of this new variant raises concerns about its potential for higher lethality and transmission rates outside Africa.
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Chagas disease is named after the Brazilian physician Carlos Chagas, who discovered the disease in 1909. It is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to animals and people by insect vectors and is found only in the Americas (mainly, in rural areas of Latin America where pover...ty is widespread). Chagas disease (T. cruzi infection) is also referred to as American trypanosomiasis
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Limited coverage of laboratory services and long turnaround times from real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) for the detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been insufficient to meet the demands in many African countries in response... to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rapid antigen diagnostic tests (AgRDTs) are potentially useful as they can inform healthcare workers and individuals of their infection status at point-of-care testing
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Antibiotics only fight infections caused by bacteria. Like all drugs, they can be harmful and should only be used when necessary. Taking antibiotics when you have a virus can do more harm than good: you will still feel sick and the antibiotic could give you a skin rash, diarrhea, a yeast infection, ...or worse.
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The objective of this document is to guide the preparation and implementation of national preparedness plans for the safety of substances of human origin during outbreaks of Zika virus infection, both in affected and non-affected areas.