DC Staff Battles to Save Lives of Veterans With COVID-19 WASHINGTON—The first time Michael Heimall heard about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 was in late January 2020 during a presentation at the auditorium of the DC VAMC. The members of the hospital’s infectious...
ATLANTA—While the war against COVID-19 continues, partial victory in another medical battle might have been overlooked. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine described substantial progress in the fight to prevent Clostridioides difficile infection in...
COLUMBIA, SC—A VA study has put to rest, at least temporarily, claims that hydroxychloroquine, alone or in combination with azithromycin, is highly effective in treating COVID-19 infection. In fact, a study appearing on the medRxiv preprint server identified increased...
SALT LAKE CITY — Guidelines aren’t followed enough when skin and soft tissue infections are managed in the outpatient setting outside of emergency departments, a new study pointed out. The article in Clinical Infectious Diseases noted the lack of data on treatment...
WASHINGTON - VA and DoD reported increasing numbers of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus behind a global pandemic, and rushed to implement plans to limit its spread. In mid-March, the VA also announced its first death from the infectious disease at a facility in...
MEMPHIS, TN—Because biologic therapies prescribed for inflammatory diseases increase the risk of activation of latent tuberculosis infections, some VAMCs recommend baseline testing of veterans starting these agents and annual testing thereafter. Several recent studies...
CHAPEL HILL, NC — The explosive emergence in December 2019 of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, prompted governments around the globe to restrict travel from the affected region in an attempt to limit international spread of the disease. While these efforts focused...
ANN ARBOR, MI—The VA continues to lag behind community hospitals in mandating annual influenza vaccine for all healthcare personal, a new study suggested. The report in JAMA Network Open said requiring HCP vaccination against the flu helps limit disease spread to...
WASHINGTON—A new executive order is aimed at increasing the manufacturing efficiency and effectiveness of flu vaccines. The DoD and Department of Health and Human Services are co-chairing a task force in the process of implementing the order signed in September by...
PITTSBURGH—How effective are N95 respirators and medical masks in preventing healthcare personnel from acquiring workplace viral respiratory infections? A study in JAMA sought to answer that question. Researchers from the National Personal Protective Technology...
A next-generation tetracycline, omadacycline could improve care for veterans with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and acute skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).
A study looking at whether taking prescribed opioids increased pneumonia risk in veterans with HIV vs. those without came to a disturbing conclusion: The likelihood is increased in both.
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) has released interim guidance designed to optimize clinical use of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis and reduce variability in access to prophylactic medication.
Thirty years ago, veterans with human immunodeficiency virus and their physicians focused on survival.
For most people, mention of bilirubin, which is formed after the breakdown of red blood cells and is eliminated by the liver, elicits thoughts of jaundice—which occurs when the compound is too high.
The VA has successfully piloted a nationwide system to alert VA facilities when patients are admitted with a history of infection with two challenging multidrug resistant organisms (MDROs).
Precautionary practices to prevent infectious agent transmission in hospitals often fail, according to a study looking at 325 patient rooms, including some at a VAMC.
While the VA significantly lags behind other healthcare systems in mandating influenza vaccinations for healthcare workers, according to recent research, it is moving closer to the national average because of a directive issued last fall.
