Could germ-killing robots revolutionize hospital infection control? Maybe. Could germ-killing robots revolutionize hospital infection control? Maybe Facebook | Twitter | Email | Instapaper Mike Stobbe, Associated PressMonday, Apr. 29, 2013 Robots to prevent the spread of deadly infections in hospitals? The future is now, and experts say that the expectations for avoiding serious illnesses while in hospital is about to change, with some facilities invoking penalties on units that allow germs to spread.
Seth Wenig/AP file photo NEW YORK — They sweep. In U.S. hospitals, an estimated one in 20 patients pick up infections they didn’t have when they arrived, some caused by dangerous ’superbugs’ that are hard to treat. The rise of these superbugs, along with increased pressure from the government and insurers, is driving hospitals to try all sorts of new approaches to stop their spread: Machines that resemble Star Wars robots and emit ultraviolet light or hydrogen peroxide vapours. Germ-resistant copper bed rails, call buttons and IV poles. But while the things in the Dr.
Antibiotic-resistant infection hits Lethbridge hospital - Calgary. The Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge in southern Alberta is experiencing an outbreak of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), according to health officials. C. difficile is a serious gastrointestinal illness — which causes infectious diarrhea — often caused by overuse of antibiotics. Symptoms range from high fever to abdominal pain to dehydration. Confirmed cases of CDI have forced Alberta Health Services to close Unit 4C to new patients and it is limiting visitors to the unit.
"Our first priority is to care for the patients in this unit and prevent the spread of infection to other patients," says Dr. AHS is also limiting staff access to the unit to only essential medical and support staff. The bacteria can survive for long periods of time on surfaces. "Person-to-person spread of CDI can occur from contact with feces or contaminated materials," said Suttorp. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It is also called oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA). MRSA is any strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has developed, through the process of natural selection, resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins. Strains unable to resist these antibiotics are classified as methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, or MSSA.
The evolution of such resistance does not cause the organism to be more intrinsically virulent than strains of Staphylococcus aureus that have no antibiotic resistance, but resistance does make MRSA infection more difficult to treat with standard types of antibiotics and thus more dangerous. Signs and symptoms[edit] In most patients, MRSA can be detected by swabbing the nostrils and isolating the bacteria found inside. Stop Infections from Lethal CRE Germs Now.
Untreatable and hard-to-treat infections from CRE germs are on the rise among patients in medical facilities. CRE germs have become resistant to all or nearly all the antibiotics we have today. Types of CRE include KPC and NDM. By following CDC guidelines, we can halt CRE infections before they become widespread in hospitals and other medical facilities and potentially spread to otherwise healthy people outside of medical facilities. Health Care Providers can Know if patients in your facility have CRE. *Long-term acute care hospitals provide complex medical care, such as ventilation or wound care, for long periods of time. Deadly Bacterial Infections on the Rise.