About Betsy Todd, MPH, RN

Former clinical editor, American Journal of Nursing (AJN), and nurse epidemiologist

An Unending Series of Challenges: APIC Highlights the ‘New Normal’ in Infection Control

By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor

Panelists to the Opening Plenary, Mary Lou Manning, Michael Bell, CDC, Russell Olmsted, Trinity Health, Phillip W. Smith, Nebraska Biocontainment Unit discuss various topics pertaining to infection control. APIC panelists (APIC president Mary Lou Manning; Michael Bell, CDC; Russell Olmsted, Trinity Health; Phillip W. Smith, Nebraska Biocontainment Unit) discuss various topics pertaining to infection control.

At the 42nd annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), held in late June in Nashville, experts from around the world shared information and insights aimed at infection preventionists but of interest to nurses in many practice settings.

APIC president Mary Lou Manning, PhD, CRNP, CIC, FAAN, opened the first plenary with the observation that to be presented with an unending series of challenges is the “new normal” in infection control and prevention. Collaboration is more important than ever in health care, she said, and “there is strength in our combined […]

2016-11-21T13:02:19-05:00July 6th, 2015|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective|2 Comments
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Breastfeeding’s Benefits vs. Fear of Infection Risks from a Mother’s New Tattoo

By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor

scalesPeople, it seems, still have strong feelings about tattoos—and about breastfeeding, too. This month, a judge in Sydney, Australia, ordered the newly tattooed mother of an 11-month-old baby to stop breastfeeding. The judge maintained that the mother’s tattooing the previous month presented “an unacceptable risk of harm” to the baby because the mother could have contracted HIV or hepatitis B (HBV) during the procedure.

The woman had tested negative for both HIV and hepatitis B since she received the tattoos. But poor aseptic technique during tattooing can result in the transmission of bloodborne infections, and people infected with HIV or HBV may not immediately test positive for either virus.

However, while HIV can be transmitted in breast milk, studies indicate that breastfeeding by hepatitis B surface antigen-positive women does not pose a significant risk of infection to their infants.

The theoretical risks put forth by the judge in this case were no match for the well-documented benefits of breastfeeding, and the injunction has already been overturned on appeal.

Still, the case raises interesting questions about how risks to a breastfeeding baby are determined. What if the father had been the person with new tattoos, and he still had a sexual relationship with the baby’s mother? It’s unscientific (and […]

2016-11-21T13:02:21-05:00June 24th, 2015|nursing perspective|0 Comments
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MERS: Where Are We Now and What Do Nurses Need to Know?

WHO map of MERS cases by country WHO map of MERS cases by country. Click to enlarge.

By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor

Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) first emerged in Saudi Arabia in September 2012. Until last month, most MERS cases have occurred in that country. But on May 20, South Korea reported its first laboratory-confirmed case of MERS, in a 68-year-old man who had recently returned from a business trip to the Middle East.

The diagnosis was made only after the man had visited four health care facilities since his return home. This resulted in nosocomial transmission to other patients, health care workers, and visitors. To date, the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Health has identified 108 cases of MERS in South Korea. Nine patients (all with serious preexisting health conditions) have died.

The WHO notes that all of these cases are epidemiologically linked to the index case. That is, there is no evidence that a new “reservoir” of MERS virus has suddenly surfaced in South Korea—all cases thus far stem from the Korean traveler who acquired his infection while visiting the Arabian Peninsula.

This is the largest outbreak of MERS so far outside of the Middle East, and therefore a reason for some concern. However, person-to-person transmission of MERS is not new, and there has as yet […]

2016-11-21T13:02:22-05:00June 15th, 2015|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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A Nurse Epidemiologist’s Notes on Issues Raised by a Recent Death from Lassa Fever

By Betsy Todd, MPH, RN, CIC, AJN clinical editor

Lassa fever is most often diagnosed by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent serologic assays (ELISA), which detect IgM and IgG antibodies as well as Lassa antigen. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) can be used in the early stage of disease. The virus itself may be cultured in 7 to 10 days, but this procedure should only be done in a high containment laboratory with good laboratory practices. Immunohistochemistry, performed on formalin-fixed tissue specimens, can be used to make a post-mortem diagnosis.

Some aspects of last month’s case of Lassa fever in New Jersey seemed to parallel the story of Thomas Duncan, who died last October in Dallas after contracting Ebola virus disease in Liberia.

A man arrived in the U.S. from Western Africa. He was screened for Ebola at the airport and instructed to […]

2016-11-21T13:02:27-05:00June 5th, 2015|infectious diseases, Nursing, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Measles 101: The Basics for Nurses

While debates about measles vaccination swirl around the current U.S. measles outbreak, most U.S. nurses have never actually seen the disease itself, and right now we are a lot more likely to encounter a case of measles than of Ebola virus disease. Here, then, is a measles primer.

Symptoms.

Measles is an upper-respiratory infection with initial symptoms of fever, cough, runny nose, red and teary eyes, and (just before the rash appears) “Koplik spots” (tiny blue/white spots) on a reddened buccal mucosa. The maculopapular rash emerges a few days after these first symptoms appear (about 14 days after exposure), beginning at the hairline and slowly working its way down the rest of the body.

Infected people who are severely immunosuppressed may not have any rash at all. “Modified” measles, with a longer incubation period and sparse rash, can occur in infants who are partially protected by maternal antibodies and in people who receive immune globulin after exposure to measles.

Transmission.

The virus spreads via respiratory droplets and aerosols, from the time symptoms begin until three to four days after the rash appears. (People who are immunosuppressed can shed virus and remain contagious for several weeks.) Measles is highly contagious, and more than 90% of exposed, nonimmune people will contract the disease. There is no known asymptomatic carrier […]

2019-01-22T15:31:41-05:00February 11th, 2015|infectious diseases, nursing perspective|3 Comments
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