A potential diagnostic test that could help surgeons confirm or rule out the presence of infection-causing bacteria in prosthetic joints that require surgical revision has been developed by researchers at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Everyone can play a part in reducing the spread of infections; After child immunisation, hand washing is the single most effective way of preventing the spread of infections, including diarrhoea bugs, colds, the flu virus and so-called ‘superbugs’ such as MRSA and Clostridium Difficile.

Differences in gene expression levels between people of European versus African ancestry can affect how each group responds to certain drugs or fights off specific infections, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Expression Research Laboratory at Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, CA.

Scientists at the University of York have characterised an important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system.

Previous work from this group of scientists, led by Tracy Hussell at Imperial College, London, showed that recovery from flu infection left mice unusually vulnerable to infection with pneumonia-causing bacteria.

A mathematical model that looks at different strategies for curbing hospital-acquired infections suggests that antimicrobial cycling and patient isolation may be effective approaches when patients are harboring dual-resistant bacteria.

An article in the debut issue of SAGE’s Foot & Ankle Specialist (FAS,) written by Thomas Zgonis, DPM, FACFAS, John J. Stapleton, DPM, and Thomas S. Roukis, DPM, FACFAS, details a 3-step treatment plan for patients with diabetic foot infections, recommending first controlling the infection by removing the infected tissue, then conducting a comprehensive assessment, and finally, restructuring the tissue to assure that the wound is closed properly.

Gordon Brown has praised the NHS for its ongoing deep-clean of hospitals that has brought a drop in the rate of infections.

In 2006, Bausch & Lomb withdrew its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution because a high proportion of corneal infections were associated with it.

Researchers from Italy found that a naturally occurring agent in frog skin may inhibit multi-drug resistant bacterial strains associated with hospital-acquired infections. They report their findings in the January 2008 journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Infections at the incision site occurred in more than 5 percent of patients following breast surgery and cost them more than $4,000 each in hospital-related expenses, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Few things sting like a mosquito's bite--especially if that bite carries a disease such as malaria, yellow fever, Dengue fever or West Nile virus. But if researchers from The University of Arizona in Tucson have their way, one day mosquito bites may prove deadly to the mosquitoes as well.