Infection Control News

Health care workers who pick their nose were around three times more likely to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 than those who did not, a small study conducted at two hospitals in the Netherlands found.

The prevalence of long COVID has stabilized since January 2023, with roughly one in 10 adults with previous COVID-19 experiencing some form of the condition, a recent study showed.

A national shortage of amoxicillin led to an increase in the use of alternative agents to treat ear infections, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

Among transplant recipients treated for cytomegalovirus, resistance to maribavir was less common than resistance to investigator-assigned standard therapy, at baseline and post-treatment, researchers reported.

Experts said clinicians should consider masking during periods of elevated respiratory viral activity after a study linked pandemic prevention measures to decreases in nosocomial COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses.

The EG.5 omicron subvariant has emerged as the predominant SARS-CoV-2 virus during a summer wave of COVID-19 in the Unted States, accounting for 17.3% of cases, according to CDC tracking.

People who were not responsive to hepatitis B vaccination should be considered for revaccination following hepatitis C cure, researchers reported.

A study of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in 10 Massachusetts school districts found that the secondary attack rate of SARS-CoV-2 among school contacts was low — between 2% and 3% — and that masking reduced the odds of transmission by almost 90%.

Healio | Infectious Disease News Editorial Board Member Jeanne M. Marrazzo, MD, MPH, was appointed director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, replacing Anthony S. Fauci, MD, who stepped down in December.

Biofilms that form in sink drains and plumbing can host multidrug resistant organisms, but cross-department efforts to sanitize them can limit their spread, according to a study.