LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Infections: Hospitals
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Until now, GMHC had opposed plans to report HIV infections. But with changes in the epidemic, the agency now believes that the old hospital-based AIDS reporting system is obsolete. A new monitoring system is critical to help prevent new infections, especially among young people, as well as to expand health care for those already infected with HIV. The numbers of AIDS cases and deaths have been available for years, but the huge number of those infected with HIV -- and of new infections each year -- remains a mystery.
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Infectious diseases researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are noticing a significant increase in the number of infections due to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and the number of asymptomatic individuals who harbor the organism in their bodies. In fact, in a recent analysis of children seen in 2003 at the emergency department of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, approximately 60 percent of the skin infections due to the staphylococcus germ were due to MRSA, an organism that can produce a variety of physical manifestations across a spectrum, from the very minor, all the way to causing death. Now a new study done by VUMC researchers confirms a dramatic spread of the organism that is being harbored in the noses of healthy children.
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Currently in Phase III testing, tigecycline is being investigated to treat a number of infections: cSSSI, cIAI, and hospital-and community-acquired pneumonia, including those caused by multi-drug resistant pathogens. Wyeth plans to file a new drug application (NDA) for tigecycline with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a dossier with the European Medicines Agency and other authorities worldwide upon the conclusion of clinical testing.
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HR 1174, a bipartisan measure sponsored by Rep. Tim Murphy, R-PA, would require the public reporting by hospitals and surgical centers of one or more types of healthcare-acquired infections. Under the bill, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would determine which of the major types of infections would need to be reported. HHS would submit an annual report to Congress on steps being taken to reduce infections, and there would be a pilot program to assist certain hospitals in developing anti-infection programs.
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Doripenem belongs to a class of antibacterial agents called carbapenems, which are useful in treating life-threatening infections caused by Gram-negative(1) and Gram-positive(2) bacteria. The data supporting the NDA showed doripenem was an effective treatment for hospital-acquired pneumonia. The data ... demonstrated the effectiveness of doripenem against infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacteriaceae, including strains of these bacteria that are resistant to other therapies.
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New figures show a record number of blood infections in Scotland. Almost 1,000 hospital patients had the infection in their blood last year, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year. And rates of the "superbug" have remained consistent since 2001, despite attempts to bring the drug-resistant infection under control.
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