The most famous debate about cryptococcus in bagpipes occurred in 1978 in (some of) the pages of the medical journal The Lancet. The debate began with this report from Australia: “CRYPTOCOCCUS IN BAGPIPES,” R. Cobcroft, H. Kronenberg, T. Wilkinson,The Lancet, Volume 311, Issue 8078, 24 June 1978, Pages 1368-1369. The authors, at the Royal Prince […]
Tag: infection
The case for medical fist bumping, then and now
Last year, 2013, medical researchers at West Virginia University published the study “Reducing pathogen transmission in a hospital setting. Handshake verses fist bump: a pilot study,” P.A. Ghareeb, T. Bourlai, W. Dutton, W.T. McClellan, Journal of Hospital Infection, vol. 85, no. 4, December 2013, pp. 321–323 (epub September 19, 2013). (We mentioned that here then.) That study says: Handshaking […]
A Preliminary Public Health Look at Hospital Fist-Bumps
On the theory that sometimes little things help lessen problems caused by little things, comes this little paper: “Reducing pathogen transmission in a hospital setting. Handshake verses fist bump: a pilot study,” P.A. Ghareeb, T. Bourlai, W. Dutton, W.T. McClellan, Journal of Hospital Infection, epub September 19, 2013. (Thanks to investigator Marek Hlavac for bringing […]
Nosocomical [sic] infections from Holy Water?
From a medical point of view, not all religious practices are always 100% risk free. See, for example, a recent Improbable article : ‘Official word: The body of Christ is not and cannot be gluten-free.’ But gluten intolerance is not the only area for concern – what about Holy Water in hospital chapels for example […]
Handy microbe-hunters on the other side of the world
Anemona Hartocollis reports in the The New York Times: “At North Shore University Hospital [pictured below] on Long Island, motion sensors, like those used for burglar alarms, go off every time someone enters an intensive care room. The sensor triggers a video camera, which transmits its images halfway around the world to India, where workers are […]
Use Caution When Using Teeth to Castrate Lambs
Lamb castration is not always the idyllic pastime that some people may think it is. The Centers for Disease Control issued the following alert: “Notes from the Field: Campylobacter jejuni Infections Associated with Sheep Castration — Wyoming, 2011“, Clay Van Houten, MS, Karl Musgrave, DVM, Kelly Weidenbach, MPH, Tracy Murphy, MD, Wanda Manley, MS, Wyoming […]
Best’s Flushing Caution; Sandoe on Dog-Snogging
From Leeds comes news of how to literally keep down infectious material in hospitals: “Potential for aerosolization of Clostridium difficile after flushing toilets: the role of toilet lids in reducing environmental contamination risk,” E.L. Best, J.A. Sandoe and M.H. Wilcox, Journal of Hospital Infections, epub December 1, 2011. The authors, at Leeds General Infirmary and […]
When sex can be an eye-opener
“Can Chlamydial Conjunctivitis Result From Direct Ejaculation Into the Eye?” ask Simon Rackstraw, ND Viswalingam and Beng T Goh of the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. That question forms the title of a study they published in 2007 in the International Journal of STD and Aids. Drs Rackstraw, Viswalingam and Goh describe the plights of […]
Can’t kiss a cardboard vampire
In the There’s-a-Rule-for-Everything Department: A CINEMA has banned fans from kissing the cardboard cutout of a film’s lead actor – because they might catch swine flu. Teenage girls had been planting kisses on, or hugging, the cutout of Brit heartthrob Robert Pattinson – who plays Edward in The Twilight Saga: New Moon – at the […]
Mexican precautions: UK necktie vector study
The newest Mexican tactic against the spread of swine flu — going necktie-less — is justified if the results of a 2000 British study are accurate. That study looked at the spread of infection within hospitals: “Neck Ties as Vectors for Nosocomial Infection,” M. Dixon, Intensive Care Medicine, vol. 26, no. 2, February 2000, p. […]