6th Edition of Guide to Infection Control in the Hospital. Launched! Free and Open Access

The 6th edition of Guide to Infection Control in the hospital has launched. The book, where I serve as editor in chief, is now accessible here (free and open access).

The project's next step is for a mobile, point of care application. Stay tuned.

Thank you to the Society and to the co-editors. A very special thank you to all of the contributors. 

We could not have done it without you!

18th ICID Buenos Aires: First Day In Pictures

Really great representation by VCU ID Team at the 18th International Congress on Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Michelle Doll moderated a session on antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Michael Stevens presented an e-abstract on a metric for relative carbapenem consumption and moderated a session whole genomic sequencing and infection prevention.

Tomorrow Dr. Doll will present an oral abstract on Clostridium difficile diagnosis and I will give a lecture at the infection prevention controversies session.

Full day of conference focused attention.

More to come, tomorrow.

VCU ID Team at the International Congress on Infectious Diseases 2018: Buenos Aires, Argentina

L-R: Drs. Stevens, De La Cruz, Doll, Bearman

It is a distinct pleasure to be with my VCU ID colleagues in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the 18th International Conference in Infectious Diseases.

We have several oral presentations, posters and a committee meeting to further edit the 6th Guide to Infection Control in the Hospital.

Stay tuned for updates.

Conspiracy Theorists Oppose Vaccination. The antidote? Argue for A Conspiracy of Misinformation.

Source: The Atlantic

Thank you to the American Psychological Association for exploring the psychological and attitudinal roots of the anti-vaccine movement. The findings are published here in Health Psychology.

Anti-vaccination attitudes are highest in conspiratorial thinkers. Tightly held beliefs will commonly trump empiricism so an evidence based argument will do little to sway anti-vaccine opinion.

The proposed antidote is interesting: one should work with people's underlying worldviews, to acknowledge the possibility of conspiracies, but to argue that vested interests can conspire to obscure the benefits of vaccination and exaggerate the dangers.

Connect with conspiratorial thinkers. Argue for a conspiracy of misinformation. Now that strategy should be put to a test.

VCU Sanger Series: Going Viral!

On 2/19/18, as part of the VCU Sanger Series , Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger, a VCU School of Medicine graduate and current Chief of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 

visited the campus and gave a masterful historical and scientific presentation on influenza.

Check out Dr. Taubenberger's excellent review article (full text PDF here) on reconstructing the 1918 influenza virus, including insights into host inflammatory response and disease progression.

It seems like the deeper we understand influenza, the more questions arise.

Fascinating lecture.

Zach Danziger! Drumming Innovation on Tedx

I am nearly certain that no drummers or musicians read this medical blog so this one is a bit whimsical.

As a drummer, the cover article on Zach Danziger in Modern Drummer magazine caught my eye. 

This gentleman's playing style is unconventional. The TEDx video above showcases it well.

Avant garde. 

Resurgence of Scarlet Fever in the UK: This is the Real Deal

Scalatiniform rash. Source: NHS UK

And recently I just blogged about the folly of declaring victory on infectious disease!

This paper recently published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases reports a 3 fold increase in the incidence of scarlet fever in the UK. The cause is unclear and not driven by a dominant circulating strain of Group A streptococcus. Drug resistance is not the cause and and neither is malnutrition nor poverty.

The increase in scarlet fever is real and is the greatest seen in the last 50 years. 

The microbes are one step ahead of us (again).