Axel Kramer MD , Mathilde Borg Dahl PhD , Mia M. Bengtsson PhD , John M. Boyce MD , Matthias Heckmann MD , Mareike Meister Dipl-Biol , Roald Papke MD , Didier Pittet MD , Anne Reinhard Dipl-Biol , Hortense Slevogt MD , Haitao Wang PhD , Paula Zwicker PhD , Tim Urich PhD , Ulrike Seifert MD
{"title":"Response to the comment on the article “No detrimental effect on the hand microbiome of health care staff by frequent alcohol-based antisepsis”","authors":"Axel Kramer MD , Mathilde Borg Dahl PhD , Mia M. Bengtsson PhD , John M. Boyce MD , Matthias Heckmann MD , Mareike Meister Dipl-Biol , Roald Papke MD , Didier Pittet MD , Anne Reinhard Dipl-Biol , Hortense Slevogt MD , Haitao Wang PhD , Paula Zwicker PhD , Tim Urich PhD , Ulrike Seifert MD","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.04.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.04.013","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Pages 916-917"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605788","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":"Information for Readers","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S0196-6553(25)00442-0","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S0196-6553(25)00442-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Page A8"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605734","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":"Information for Authors","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/S0196-6553(25)00443-2","DOIUrl":"10.1016/S0196-6553(25)00443-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 8","pages":"Pages A9-A10"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144605735","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}
Tingting Zhang, Qin Qin, Ruoyu Cao, Renqiang Lu, Dongxue Li
{"title":"Is sterility essential for hand-drying products in surgical hand antisepsis? A controlled before-and-after study.","authors":"Tingting Zhang, Qin Qin, Ruoyu Cao, Renqiang Lu, Dongxue Li","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Using sterile hand-drying products for surgical hand antisepsis incurs high economic and labor costs.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>This study assesses the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of clean paper towels, sterile cloth towels, and sterile paper towels for surgical hand antisepsis.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In March 2024, a controlled study was conducted with 50 medical volunteers from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University. The study compared bacterial cultures on hands after drying with different products and using a rinse-free hand disinfectant, while also calculating the hand-drying cost per surgical procedure.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>Colony counts from hand bacterial cultures after drying with clean paper towels, sterile cloth towels, and sterile paper towels were 0.01 (0.00, 0.18) CFU/cm², 0.30 (0.05, 0.77) CFU/cm², and 0.01 (0.00, 0.08) CFU/cm², with a significant difference (p < 0.001). After using rinse-free hand disinfectant, counts were 0.00 CFU/cm² for all methods, with no significant difference (p > 0.05). Total bacterial colonies were below 5 CFU/cm², meeting surgical hand antisepsis standards. All products had a 100% qualification rate, with costs of 0.20 RMB for clean paper towels, 5.70 RMB for sterile cloth towels, and 8.20 RMB for sterile paper towels.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Clean paper towels are more effective at reducing hand bacteria and more cost-efficient than sterile hand-drying products, making them ideal for reducing operating costs and widely applicable in medical institutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144615836","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":"HAI point prevalence report in two Cambodian hospitals, 2023: An application of World Health Organization simplified case definition.","authors":"Nita Mean, Virya Koy, Vannda Kap, Savy Em, Achim Dörre, Sara Tomczyk, Zhao Li, Shogo Kubota, Maha Talaat Ismail, Benedetta Allegranzi","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.023","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Hospital-associated infections (HAIs) are a global threat impacting patient safety and decreasing the quality of care. Standardized HAI case definitions are key in capturing infection cases to inform strategies to prevent and control HAIs. However, previous studies conducted to identify HAI cases were limited to using the case definitions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Europe and the USA, which requires a high capacity of diagnostic services.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study used a point prevalence survey from the World Health Organization (WHO) pilot project to test the simplified HAI case definitions to provide HAI prevalence in a Cambodian national and a provincial hospital. R was used perform descriptive analysis and to estimate the prevalence of HAIs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on the WHO case definitions of HAIs, 114 of the 591 eligible participants in the study acquired at least 1 type of HAI, representing an overall prevalence of 19.3%.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study provided the groundwork for identifying HAI cases using WHO HAI case definitions. Compared to previous studies, this study found a high prevalence of HAIs. Therefore, future studies should consider exploring how implementing the WHO case definition impacts the identification and management of HAIs.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144566990","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}
L Mussina, F Khoury, D Araujo, M Yadlapalli, M Pezzone, M Yassin
{"title":"Helicobacter pylori real-time quantitative PCR to examine efficacy of endoscope processing.","authors":"L Mussina, F Khoury, D Araujo, M Yadlapalli, M Pezzone, M Yassin","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the main cause of peptic ulcer disease. The primary aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of current endoscope High-Level Disinfection (HLD) at clearing H. pylori. The secondary aim is to evaluate the prevalence of H. pylori in patients undergoing esophagogastric-duodenoscopy (EGD).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This is a prospective study collecting samples from esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for H. pylori. testing via gastric lavage and after HLD via flushing endoscope with sterile water. The patients' records were reviewed and the fluid obtained was tested for microbiologic culture; urease testing, and qPCR testing using UreA primers and probe.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The study included 202 samples (101 patients). H. pylori was positive in 37%, 21.9% and 2.4% of samples using Urease testing, culture and biopsy respectively. H. pylori was four times more likely to be identified via gastric lavage than by biopsy. qPCR was significantly more likely to be negative after HLD (27 vs 3 patients).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>HLD was effective in reducing H. pylori but was not able to totally eliminate H. pylori DNA. qPCR is more sensitive than routine culture but can't accurately determine potential for infection transmission. Gastric lavage may be more effective in detecting H. pylori than histology.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144574657","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":"Improving hand hygiene in hospitals: A comparative study using body-worn cameras and direct observation.","authors":"D Belman, E Ben-Chetrit, C Belman, P D Levin","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.025","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Hand hygiene (HH) prevents infections, but traditional monitoring is limited by office hours and the Hawthorne effect. We used body-worn cameras in ICU to compare video with direct observation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>After ethics approval, staff wore a GoPro™ on the upper abdomen during patient care. A trained observer simultaneously documented opportunities and performance. A blinded researcher analyzed the video. Both methods were compared on opportunities, compliance, performance, and duration.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Seventeen paired video and observer data sets captured 166 HH opportunities and 147 events. Of these, 118/147 (80%) were in response to a HH opportunity and 29/147 not (20%). Including HH performance-related to events, overall HH compliance was 71%. Both methods identified 80% of opportunities. Video detected 11.5% of missed opportunities, while the observer identified 8.5% missed by video. Mean duration was comparable (11.3±9.2 sec vs. 12.0±9.8 sec, p=0.55).</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Body-worn cameras effectively identified HH opportunities, performance, and duration, capturing events missed by observers ~20% of the time. However, video analysis had flaws, revealing missed events upon review. Observer data, long considered the gold-standard, showed only 80% accuracy.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Body-worn cameras are a feasible tool for HH monitoring, but are labor-intensive. Automating video analysis could enhance feasibility for routine use.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144566991","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}
Ali Barzegar Khanghah, Shaghayegh Chavoshian, Majid Janidarmian, Simon Rustin, Geoff Fernie, Atena Roshan Fekr
{"title":"Hero Program: A Data-Driven Reward System to Improve Hand Hygiene.","authors":"Ali Barzegar Khanghah, Shaghayegh Chavoshian, Majid Janidarmian, Simon Rustin, Geoff Fernie, Atena Roshan Fekr","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) compromise patient outcomes and pose a significant burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Despite widespread awareness of the critical role of Hand Hygiene (HH) in preventing HAIs, compliance among healthcare workers remains suboptimal. This study evaluates a reward program called the Hero Program which is designed to incentivize and sustain proper HH practices through positive reinforcement.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The program used data from an electronic hand hygiene prompting system that has been installed in an inpatient unit in Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network for over 3 years. A scoring algorithm was implemented to weigh individual HH compliance rates, considering workload and rewarding consistency. Daily winners were selected based on their scores and received gift card rewards.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The analysis of data from 61 caregivers and more than 566,000 records over a period of approximately 2.5 years indicates that the Hero Program led to an 11.45% increase in HH compliance after 120 days of implementation. This is a promising finding, suggesting that the program was effective in promoting behavior change early on. Furthermore, compliance rates continued to improve over time, reaching 94% one year later.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This sustained improvement suggests that the program had a long-lasting positive impact on HH practices in the unit.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144564249","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}
Jeannie P Cimiotti, Yin Li, Yu Jin Kang, Edmund R Becker, Peter Joski, Patti E Landerfelt, Omid R Razmpour, Scott K Fridkin
{"title":"Registered nurse workload and hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections.","authors":"Jeannie P Cimiotti, Yin Li, Yu Jin Kang, Edmund R Becker, Peter Joski, Patti E Landerfelt, Omid R Razmpour, Scott K Fridkin","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The prevention of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a national priority. Data from the American Hospital Association Survey and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services show that each additional registered nurse hour per patient day was associated with a 3% decrease in the rate of hospital-onset MRSA bloodstream infection.</p>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144293205","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}