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Sage Products issues voluntary worldwide recall of topical skin products due to potential microbial contamination

Sage Products has issued a worldwide recall of their wipes related to possible contamination with B. cepacia. You can view the relevant information, including the product names and lot numbers, on the FDA recall web page. BC Clinical and Support Services is working with the distributor and the health authorities on mitigation strategies. In the meantime, any questions should be directed to Sage Products Customer Service at 1-800-421-6556. ...

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Microneedle can monitor vancomycin levels without drawing blood

From The Vancouver Sun: Researchers at the University of B.C. have created a “lab on a chip” that could spell the end of painful, multiple daily blood tests for patients on intravenous antibiotics. A microneedle — created by engineering PhD student Sahan Ranamukhaarachchi — is only one-tenth as wide as a syringe needle and practically painless. Using microfluidics and optics, the new device is designed to monitor levels of the antibiotic vancomycin without drawing blood. Vancomycin...

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Zika virus transmitted from patient to caregiver

From CBC News: A Utah man who became the first person in the continental U.S. to die after being infected with the Zika virus passed it to a (family member) caregiver. The man who died in late June caught the virus while travelling abroad to an area where mosquitoes are known to spread Zika and had an unusually high level of the virus in his blood, officials said. The exact cause of...

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Emerging multidrug-resistant Candida auris: information on infection control practices

The following information was sent to PICNet's Community of Practice on July 14, 2016; you can also download the following information as a PDF. PICNet has also prepared a Q&A that you can view in our previous news post or as a PDF. Background The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Public Health Agency of Canada have recently raised an alert to an emerging multidrug-resistant (MDR) yeast, Candida auris (C....

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Candida auris Q&A

PICNet has prepared the following Q&A to assist you with questions from staff or patients. You can also download this information as a PDF. View our subsequent news post for infection control and laboratory testing information. What is Candida auris? Is it a new type of infection? Candida auris is a type of Candida yeast. Candida yeasts normally live on the skin and mucous membranes but can cause yeast infections. C. auris was first identified in...

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Antimicrobial drugs for livestock: proposed new rules

The federal government is proposing new rules for veterinary drugs used in livestock as it works to reduce human health risks associated with resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials. Health Canada says the decreasing effectiveness of antimicrobials is having a significant impact on the government’s ability to protect Canadians from infectious diseases. “The overuse and misuse of antimicrobials in animals is a contributing factor to the development and spread of AMR (antimicrobial-resistance),”...

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New hire at VGH: C. difficile-hunting dog

On July 5, after a year of intensive training culminating in exams he passed, English springer spaniel Angus will be introduced at Vancouver General Hospital as Canada’s first, and the world’s only current C. difficile hunter. He succeeds the world’s first C. diff sniffer, a beagle in the Netherlands named Cliff, who has retired. Angus uses his scent-tracking abilities to find toxins in the bacterial organisms that cause C. diff. infections...

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