Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) has now become a global medical challenge. At any time, more than 1.4 million people worldwide acquire infectious complications in hospitals [1]. Rosenthal [2] reported the rates of device-associated infections ranging from 8.2 to 16.1 per 1,000 device-exposed-days in developing countriesat least 3 to 5 times higher than international standards. In a rece...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Low rates of influenza immunization among health care workers (HCWs) pose a potential health risk to patients in primary care practices. Despite previous educational efforts and programs to reduce financial barriers, HCW influenza immunization rates remain low. Variation in practice-level organizational culture may affect immunization rates. To explore this relationshi...

BACKGROUND PostExposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is widely used after exposures to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to reduce the risk of infection in the healthcare setting. Few data are available on the safety and tolerability of Anti Retro Viral drugs (ARV) among Health Care Workers (HCWs) who are prescribed prophylaxis. OBJECTIVE To collect information about the safety and compliance of taking...

The perspectives and practices of health care workers (HCWs) regarding disclosure to HIV-infected children have not been adequately investigated ten years after the roll-out of pediatrics antiretroviral therapy (ART). The aim of the study was to examine the opinions of HCWs about disclosure to HIV-infected children and determine their role in disclosure to children accessing ART in health cente...

Active immunization is an important concern for health care workers (HCWs) susceptible subjects and potential sources of infection for patients. However, the vaccine coverage for vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) is below recommended standards. The aims of the study were to estimate the hospitals' HCWs' susceptibility and vaccination coverage rates for VPDs and to analyze the role of HCWs' at...

In late September 2012, changes to the Rules and Regulations Pertaining to Immunization, Testing, and Health Screening for Health Care Workers (R23-17-HCW) were proposed to reflect the most current (2011) recommendations of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). One of the proposed changes drew many people to a public hearing: the requirement...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiology of occupational accidents and self-reported attitude of health-care workers (HCWs) in Serbia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs in selected departments of five tertiary care hospitals and in one secondary care hospital in February 2012. A previously developed self-administered questionnaire wa...

Hand hygiene has been recognized as the most important means of preventing the transmission of infection, and great emphasis has been placed on ways to improve hand hygiene compliance by health care workers (HCWs). Despite increasing evidence that patients' flora and the hospital environment are the primary source of many infections, little effort has been directed toward involving patients in ...

A prospective study to evaluate immune status against diphtheria and immunologic response after tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster vaccination was conducted in 250 Thai health care workers (HCWs). A protective antibody was found in 89.2% of the HCWs (95% confidence interval [CI], 83.3%-91.5%) before receipt of the Td booster vaccination, compared with 97.2% (95% CI, 95.1%-99.3%) after receipt of t...

We describe the nosocomial transmission of group A Streptococcus species (GAS) from a single source patient to 24 health care workers (HCWs). DNA typing revealed that all of the isolates were identical to that of the source patient. The isolates were M type 1, positive for production of nicotine adenine dinucleotidase, and negative for opacity factor, all of which are factors reported to have a...