After our summer break, I’m looking forward to our first Journal Club of the Autumn tomorrow (register here). I’ve written this post in preparation for the Journal Club, which is hosted by IPC Partners in partnership with IPC Launch, ID Watch, and the Healthcare Hygiene magazine on the topic “Optimizing prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal and urinary tract infections”. The paper that I’ll be covering is a randomised controlled trial of oral vancomycin to prevent recurrent C. difficile infection.
Continue readingAuthor: Jon Otter (@jonotter)
Making IPC live for frontline healthcare workers
I’ve written this post in preparation for next Wednesday’s IPS Journal Club in partnership with the Infection Prevention Society (register here). (Please note, it will be a little earlier in the day than most previous Journal Clubs, so don’t miss it!) The paper that I have chosen for the Journal Club is this one in the Journal of Infection Prevention, exploring infection prevention behaviour in hospital nursing staff.
Continue readingS. aureus and SSI: all roads point to nasal colonisation
I’ve written this post in preparation for tomorrow’s Journal Club, which will be about this paper on S. aureus colonisation and SSI (register here). Having not written or reviewed much on S. aureus for quite a while, I’m reading my second S. aureus paper in two weeks, following last week’s blog on a paper from the Healthcare Infection Society special on “MRSA: the enduring foe“!
Continue readingMRSA admission screening – does it work and is it cost-effective?
I’ve written this post in preparation for next week’s Journal Club in partnership with the Healthcare Infection Society themed around their MRSA article collection: “MRSA: the enduring foe”. Having spent a fair bit of time this week looking at post-infection reviews related to MRSA bloodstream infections, I can vouch for how well this particular foe has endured, even in a relatively low prevalence setting!
Continue reading“It might be gloves; it’s always hand hygiene”
Yesterday was World Hand Hygiene Day 2025! Look out for a World Hand Hygiene Day 2025 themed Journal Club tomorrow, where we will be discussing this paper. You can register for Journal Club here.
Continue readingIPS Journal Club: Inhaler vs. nebuliser and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 dispersal
I’ve written this post in preparation for Wednesday’s IPS Journal Club (register here). The paper that I have chosen for the Journal Club is this one in the Journal of Infection Prevention, comparing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 dispersal through the air with an inhaler vs. nebuliser.
Continue readingCandidozyma auris: an emerging threat
I’ve written this post in preparation for tomorrow’s Journal Club, which will be based on this NEJM review of Candidozyma auris (formerly Candida auris). You can register for Journal Club here (or watch the recording afterwards here).
Continue readingC. auris is now the preeminent cause of HCAI outbreaks in Saudi Arabia
I was browsing pubmed this morning for updates related to C. auris from outside the UK, and came across this fascinating report from Saudi Arabia. Based on national notifications to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health, C. auris was the preeminent cause of HCAI outbreaks during 2023!
Continue readingContinuous temperature / flow monitoring is part of the future for managing water hygiene in hospitals
In preparation for next Wednesday’s Journal Club in partnership with the Healthcare Infection Society around water hygiene (details and registration here), I’ve reviewed this article in the Journal of Hospital Infection. It’s an excellent narrative review on the use of continuous monitoring of key parameters related to water hygiene (e.g. water temperature and flow). Continuous monitoring seems like part of the future of safe water hygiene!
Continue readingWhat are the key barriers to implementing prospective WGS surveillance in IPC?
I’ve just read an enjoyable commentary in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy exploring barriers and solutions to implementing proactive WGS in IPC. It links in nicely with a post I wrote towards the end of last year along similar lines. So what are the key barriers and how do we overcome them?
Continue reading
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 