J. Hsu from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health at Madison and colleagues reported  that antimicrobial stewardship, glove use, hand hygiene and disposable thermometers should be used routinely to prevent Clostridium difficile infection. However, they reported that environmental disinfection and probiotics should be studied further. To make their recommendations, the investigators searched multiple computerized databases and performed manual searches to retrieve relevant articles.

Researchers, led by Duke University’s Bruce Donald, are using a computer algorithm to predict how MRSA will mutate in the future. The team of scientists modeled mutations in a MRSA enzyme known as dihydrofolate reductase, which is targeted by multiple therapies. An algorithm known as K-star helped the investigators find DHFR mutation candidates that would be able to resist new antibiotics. According to the researchers, the knowledge gained from the algorithm could be incorporated into a drug-design strategy by designing antibiotics around those predicted mutations.

Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have identified and isolated a new toxin called LukGH that laboratory studies indicate is a potent killer of human immune cells and could be a key factor in the severity of MRSA infections in otherwise healthy people. The research project was intended to identify all the surface proteins of USA300, the most common community-associated strain of MRSA. The scientists said they are not sure of the full contribution of LukGH to the severity of MRSA infection, but LukGH is the only MRSA toxin currently known to promote the destruction of human neutrophils after the bacteria have been ingested by the immune cells designed to destroy them.

University of Nottingham researchers found that more than half of those who died from swine flu or were admitted to the hospital because of it during the first wave of the swine flu pandemic in the UK previously were healthy individuals who had no underlying risks.  The study involved clinical data from 55 hospitals in 20 towns and cities.

Researchers at the University of Bath, working with scientists from the Universities of York and Gothenburg, have identified one of the components of MRSA that is responsible for making it so deadly. Researchers found that the fibronectin binding protein is key to the bacteria’s ability to invade the organs. They will now try and stop the bacteria from invading human cells through the use of antibodies to block FnBP binding.

Methicllin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in children have spiked from two to 21 cases per 1,000 hospital admissions between 1999 and 2008. The findings, based on a review of more than 64,000 children treated for a staph infection in 25 U.S. children’s hospitals, showed that the rate of staph infections has more than doubled in the time period. However, the findings indicated that most of the infections were acquired at schools, locker rooms and gyms, and not health care settings. The study also showed that the use of the antibiotic clindamycin increased threefold, with 63 percent of such infections being treated with the drug in 2008.

Among hospitals in the Premier Inc Perspective Database reporting SCIP performance, adherence measured through a global all-or-none composite infection-prevention score was associated with a lower probability of developing a postoperative infection. However, adherence reported on individual SCIP measures, which is the only form in which performance is publicly reported, was not associated with a significantly lower probability of infection.

Denise M. Korniewicz of the University of Miami and Maher El-Masri of the University of Windsor in Canada have found that nurses and other health care providers often do not comply with hand hygiene guidelines prior to and after procedures. They noted in the journal Applied Nursing Research that compliance was higher with high-risk procedures and when health care providers were exposed to blood. Korniewicz and El-Masri evaluated hand hygiene practices observed during 612 procedures performed by 67 health care professionals at an oncology hospital.