Yonit Wiener-Well, Phillip D Levin, Marc V Assous, Nurit Algur, Orit Wolfovitz Barchad, Tamar Lachish, Todd Zalut, Amos M Yinnon, Eli Ben-Chetrit
{"title":"Erratum to \"The use of a diversion tube to reduce blood culture contamination-A 'real-life' quality improvement intervention study\" [Am J Infect Control]. 2023;51(9):999-1003.","authors":"Yonit Wiener-Well, Phillip D Levin, Marc V Assous, Nurit Algur, Orit Wolfovitz Barchad, Tamar Lachish, Todd Zalut, Amos M Yinnon, Eli Ben-Chetrit","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144673710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xinli Shen, Jin Zhao, Songjun Ji, Lulu Jin, Xinling Pan
{"title":"Influencing factors and benefits of repeated sampling for mycobacterial culture: A real-world study.","authors":"Xinli Shen, Jin Zhao, Songjun Ji, Lulu Jin, Xinling Pan","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Bacterial culture plays a crucial role in diagnosing Mycobacterium-induced infections, and repeated sampling significantly improves positive rates in both culture and microscopy tests. However, the factors influencing repeated sampling and the benefits across different patient subpopulations remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective study included patients suspected of respiratory-tract infections at a tertiary hospital between January 2010 and December 2023. Data on sampling frequency, culture results, clinical features, radiological examinations, and laboratory tests were extracted from the clinical records database.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 16,930 cases, 6.2% (1,047/16,930) had repeated specimens, which yielded a higher positivity rate (23.6%) than single samples (14.8%, P < 0.001). Repeated sampling was more common among patients with positive acid-fast bacilli (AFB), or T. spot assay results, or pulmonary cavities than those with negative results or without pulmonary cavities. However, repeated sampling did not significantly increase culture positivity in patients with positive AFB (P = 0.436), Gene Xpert (P = 0.688), or T. spot (P = 0.841) assay results, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (P = 0.269).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Repeated sampling is influenced by clinical features and laboratory findings. Although repeated sampling may enhance mycobacterial culture detection rates, its benefit appears limited in certain patient groups.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144673711","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rachel Yoken, Caroline A O'Neil, Kate Peacock, Candice Cass, Meghan A Wallace, Kelly Alvarado, Mostafa Amor, Emily Struttmann, Daniel Park, David McDonald, Karl Hock, Hilary Babcock, Carey-Ann D Burnham, Christopher W Farnsworth, Jennie H Kwon
{"title":"SARS-CoV-2 PCR and Antibody Positivity in Asymptomatic Healthcare Workers with a Known SARS-CoV-2 Exposure: December, 2020 - December, 2021.","authors":"Rachel Yoken, Caroline A O'Neil, Kate Peacock, Candice Cass, Meghan A Wallace, Kelly Alvarado, Mostafa Amor, Emily Struttmann, Daniel Park, David McDonald, Karl Hock, Hilary Babcock, Carey-Ann D Burnham, Christopher W Farnsworth, Jennie H Kwon","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this prospective cohort study, thirty healthcare personnel with a known SARS-CoV-2 exposure provided oropharyngeal swabs for PCR testing and blood specimens for serologic testing at two time points post-exposure. At a median 7 days post-exposure (range, 1-13 days), none had a positive PCR and 1 (3%) had a reactive antibody test. No additional participants were PCR or antibody-positive at a median 25 days post-exposure (range, 14-36 days).</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Huiwen Xu, John R Bowblis, Shuang Li, Yong-Fang Kuo, James S Goodwin
{"title":"Nursing Home Visitor Policy and COVID-19 Infection Rates.","authors":"Huiwen Xu, John R Bowblis, Shuang Li, Yong-Fang Kuo, James S Goodwin","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio was the only state that collected facility-level visitation data after rescinding its ban on visitors. This study examines the association of allowing outside visitors with COVID-19 infection rates among nursing home residents.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We assembled a cohort of Ohio nursing homes over 9 weeks (11/1/2020 to 1/3/2021). For each week, we obtained whether a facility allowed visitors, any COVID-19 infections among residents, community infection rates, and other facility characteristics. Marginal structural models examined the association of allowing visitors with resident infections, weighted by the inverse of the probability of allowing visitors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 677 nursing homes with visitation data, the number of facilities allowing visitors during any week from 10/29/2020 to 1/3/2021 ranged from 226 to 327. Marginal models substantially improved the balance in covariates. In the marginal models, allowing visitors was not associated with the unadjusted rates or adjusted odds of new infection among residents (odds ratio=0.92, 95% confidence interval: 0.78, 1.08). The result was similar in sensitivity analyses on the lagged effect of allowing visitors.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Allowing visitors in the context of adequate preventive measures was safe, even during a period of high community transmission and before vaccine rollouts.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144666861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Geneva M Wilson, Ravyn Jackson, Sara Abdelrahim, Taissa Bej, Robin L P Jump, Charlesnika T Evans
{"title":"Determining Appropriateness of Treatment by Evaluating Providers' Documentation of UTI Symptoms.","authors":"Geneva M Wilson, Ravyn Jackson, Sara Abdelrahim, Taissa Bej, Robin L P Jump, Charlesnika T Evans","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is a positive urine culture without urinary symptoms. ASB treatment is discouraged due to clinical ineffectiveness and increased risk of antimicrobial resistance. This retrospective cohort determined the prevalence of inappropriate ASB prescribing.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Eligible patients included those seen at any Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic with a positive urine culture from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022. Visits were placed into three categories based on documentation of UTI-specific symptoms: UTI-present, UTI-unlikely, and UTI-absent. Provider reasoning for antibiotic prescriptions was assessed for UTI-unlikely and UTI-absent visits. The time between the visit and prescription dates was also evaluated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>484 visits were analyzed. There were 258 (53%) UTI-present visits, 113 (23%) UTI-unlikely visits, and 113 (23%) UTI-absent. Two-thirds of the UTI-absent visits and 58% of the UTI-unlikely visits resulted in antibiotic prescriptions. Over one-third (37.6%) of the prescriptions in UTI-absent visits and 27% in UTI-unlikely visits were in response to the urinalysis or urine culture results. Most prescriptions given before the visit or more than 9 days after were inappropriate.</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>In outpatient clinics, most inappropriate antibiotics resulted from providers reacting to laboratory test results. This emphasizes the need for increased ASB diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144658103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Author response: Impact of antibiotic treatment and predictors for subsequent infections in multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas Aeruginosa catheter-associated asymptomatic bacteriuria","authors":"Chisook Moon MD, PhD , Yu Mi Wi MD, PhD","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.05.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.05.009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Pages 913-914"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“Letter to the editor: Artificial intelligence (AI) use for personal protective equipment training, remediation, and education in health care”","authors":"Zainab Arif, Shorrem Naeem","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.05.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.05.011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Page 910"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Syed Aaraiz Ul Hassan MBBS , Noor Ul Huda MBBS , Muhammad Raza MBBS
{"title":"“Letter to the editor: Impact of antibiotic treatment and predictors for subsequent infections in multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa catheter-associated asymptomatic bacteriuria”","authors":"Syed Aaraiz Ul Hassan MBBS , Noor Ul Huda MBBS , Muhammad Raza MBBS","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.05.005","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.05.005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Pages 912-913"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Noor Ul Huda MBBS , Ruba Javed MBBS , Hafsa Ibrahim MBBS
{"title":"Letter to editor: No detrimental effect on the hand microbiome of health care staff by frequent alcohol-based antisepsis","authors":"Noor Ul Huda MBBS , Ruba Javed MBBS , Hafsa Ibrahim MBBS","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.04.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.04.007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Page 915"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}