Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, practices concerning infection prevention and control (IPC) have faced significant challenges, as underlined by a comprehensive review of bacterial and fungal outbreaks in hospitals across the globe, according to a research published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Researchers at Koc University in Istanbul conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of 25 studies, involving tertiary and university hospitals in 13 nations, dating from January 2020 through March 2024. Their analysis revealed 619 cases associated with outbreaks of bacterial and fungal infections.
Although several inquiries have considered the rise in healthcare-related infections during the pandemic, not many have inspected unpredicted outbreaks tied to specific bacterial and fungal pathogens. Most of these inquiries have revolved around antimicrobial resistance patterns or secondary infections during the pandemic period while sidestepping variations across different settings and over different time frames in outbreak dynamics.
The diagrams exhibited Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Candida auris as frequently appearing pathogens, accounting for 95% of all cases related to the outbreak. The pooled case-fatality rates for the trio were found to surpass values reported before the pandemic. Furthermore, about two-thirds of the cases subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing ruled in multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates.
Most outbreaks were documented in Brazil, Qatar, South Korea, Turkey, and the United States, with an average duration of six months. Factors contributing to these outbreaks included inadequate staffing, inconsistent practices in environmental cleaning or disinfection, and insufficient IPC training. To avoid secondary hospital outbreaks in the future, the researchers emphasized strengthening IPC programs. This can be achieved by enhancing staff awareness, promoting sustainable environmental hygiene, and implementing antimicrobial stewardship interventions.
While the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has ended the recommendation on universal birth-dose hepatitis B vaccines, a survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania revealed that 77% of Americans still favor the vaccine for newborns. Yet, only 35% support administering it at birth and 51% by one month. Notably, these recommendations by ACIP need approval by the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who used to serve as a deputy to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an acolyte of ACIP.
This insightful survey, which involved 1,637 respondents, found cross-party acceptance for the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. In fact, when quizzed about the youngest age they would recommend the vaccine to a child in their household, only 16% came against the suggestion. Moreover, when asked to select from a list of diseases and ailments that the hepatitis B vaccine guards against, 40% correctly identified liver disease, whereas 32% were unsure, and 13% selected ‘none of the above’. This representation indicates that there is still a lack of knowledge towards this vaccine amongst the general public.