Historical Background The potential for bloodborne transmission of hepatitis B first was noted in 1885, when Lurman described jaundice in factory workers who had received smallpox vaccine prepared from “human lymph.” More reports appeared in the subsequent decades as use…
Definitions Health care–associated urinary tract infection (UTI) refers to UTI that is acquired while a patient is receiving medical treatment in a health care setting. The majority of health care–associated UTIs occur in patients whose urinary tracts are currently or…
Nosocomial pneumonia refers to pneumonia acquired while in a hospital. It is classically divided into hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) but has also been applied to the concept of health care–associated pneumonia (HCAP). The majority of studies on…
The relentless progress of medical science and technology has been accompanied by the development of a host of new diagnostic and therapeutic medical devices, each of which is associated with its own complications. Included in the list of devices and…
Each year in the United States there are approximately 53,000,000 outpatient surgical procedures and 46,000,000 inpatient surgical procedures. For example, there are at least 18 million gastrointestinal endoscopies per year. Each of these procedures involves contact by a medical device…
Hospital infection control traces its roots to the mid-19th century, when medical and scientific investigators noted the preventive benefits of hand hygiene, surgical antisepsis, and hospital hygiene. These measures remain at the core of infection prevention, with an expanding base…
Revised November 8, 2020 Kawasaki disease (KD) is a self-limited vasculitis of infants and children that is now the most common cause of acquired heart disease in developed countries. Although the disease was first described by Tomisaku Kawasaki in Japan…
Ticks are the most competent and versatile of all arthropod vectors of zoonotic infectious diseases for several reasons. First, ticks are not afflicted by most of the microorganisms that they may transmit or the paralytic salivary toxins that they may…
Mites, including chigger and scabies mites, are among the smallest arthropods, with most barely visible without magnification. Only about 20 species of the more than 3000 species of chigger, animal, plant, and scabies mites are of any medical importance, and…
Flies and fleas are mostly bothersome biting nuisances of humans and animals that can also transmit infectious diseases and deeply invade living tissues, causing amputation, disfigurement, and, rarely, death. Flies can serve as mechanical vectors of shigellosis, and rat fleas…