Jarvis on Infectious Disease

William R. Jarvis, MD, President, Jason and Jarvis Associates, Port Orford, Oregon; Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and San Francisco, California; former Clinical Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; former Chief, Investigation and Prevention Branch, Assistant Chief, National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) system, Chief, Epidemiology Branch, Acting Director, Hospital Infections Program, Assistant Director for Program Development, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Director, Office of Extramural Research, National Center for Infectious Diseases, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia

What Is the Best Way to Screen Patients for MRSA? How does nasal swab screening alone compare with multiple body site screening for MRSA? William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on new research.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, December 26, 2012
Infection Control: More Intensive Daily Disinfection? William R. Jarvis, MD, talks about daily cleaning of high-touch surfaces in hospitals, such as bed rails, bedside tables, telephones, chairs, IV stands, and doorknobs.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, December 13, 2012
The Risk of Powdered Infant Formula and Cronobacter William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on a recent study of powdered infant formula and then recommends the exclusive use of breast milk and/or ready-to-feed formula for young infants. Learn why.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, November 28, 2012
Glycemic Control, Cardiac Surgery, and Infection Are there fewer post-op infections when glucose is normalized rapidly after cardiac surgery in children? William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on recent research.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, November 19, 2012
Infectivity of Hepatitis B Virus in Mothers and Children Blood, sweat, tears, and more -- the latest on mothers, children, and HBV. What does this mean for clinical care?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, October 12, 2012
Mycobacteria Infections Associated With Tattooing William R. Jarvis, MD, highlights a recent report about a persistent raised erythematous rash occurring about 3 weeks post-tattoo. What were the results of the investigation?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, September 27, 2012
Preoperative Mupirocin Saves Big Bucks Eradicating nasal Staphylococcus aureus colonization before total joint arthroplasty prevents expensive surgical-site infections.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, July 09, 2012
Are You Underestimating Your MRSA Infection Rate? Are you including MRSA infections that are present within 30 days of hospital discharge in your infection-rate calculations?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, June 25, 2012
Pet Contact in Nursing Homes: Infection Risk for Residents? Pets have many benefits for residents of nursing homes, but do they expose residents to dangerous pathogens?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, June 18, 2012
Household Decolonization to Eradicate Staph Infection Dr. William Jarvis discusses the relative merits of household vs individual decolonization in the eradication of persistent Staphylococcus aureus infections.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, May 30, 2012
Smile! Your Handwashing Is on Candid Camera Can video monitoring of handwashing, with feedback to staff, improve the abysmally low hand-hygiene compliance rates?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, May 21, 2012
Influenza and Statins: Effect on Mortality William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on a tantalizing study that finds an unexpected benefit from taking statins.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, April 30, 2012
A Simple Risk Score for Multidrug-Resistant Pneumonia A study tests a previously developed clinical risk score for its usefulness in identifying patients with a resistant organism.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, April 23, 2012
Which Chlorhexidine Concentration Is Best for Skin Prep? The results of a comparative study of different chlorhexidine concentrations might surprise you.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, April 09, 2012
Survival of CMV on Environmental Surfaces and Risk to Pregnant Women Dr. William Jarvis reveals how long CMV in saliva can survive and pose a transmission risk to pregnant women, and provides clinical advice to share with patients.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, March 29, 2012
What Increases the Risk for Persistent MRSA After Decolonization? A new study looks at the relationship between combined low-level mupirocin and genotypic chlorhexidine resistance and persistent MRSA. William R. Jarvis, MD, comments.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, March 06, 2012
UTIs -- Look at the Big Picture Bill Jarvis, MD, describes a new study on UTI surveillance and urges us to consider both ICU and non-ICU infections, as well as UTIs both related and not related to catheters.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, February 08, 2012
MRSA Colonization and the Risk for MRSA Infection Active surveillance of surgical patients, identifying those colonized, and then providing treatment – does it work?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, December 29, 2011
Ventilator-Associated Tracheitis and Antibiotic Duration Antibiotics may be misused in patients on mechanical ventilation. Learn about new research on the appropriate duration of antibiotic therapy in the NICU and PICU.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, December 19, 2011
How Should We Estimate "Central Line Days" for All Patients in the Hospital? Determining central line day rates on all patients in the hospital (vs just those in the ICU) is a big challenge. William R. Jarvis, MD, offers his thoughts on a recent study focusing on how to do that.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, October 07, 2011
Catheter-Associated UTIs: Measurements Matter William R. Jarvis, MD, reports on a new study focusing on how the rates of CA-UTIs are determined, vitally important in the evaluation of QA programs.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, September 22, 2011
Reduce VAP in the ICU: Practical Guidance What interventions are most important in reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia in the ICU? William R. Jarvis, MD, reviews new research findings.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, July 06, 2011
Predicting Which Patients May Have CRE on Hospital Admission Learn more about the 3 factors that may predict carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) colonization or infection in newly admitted hospital patients. William R. Jarvis, MD, comments.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, June 28, 2011
A Practical Approach to Decreasing Surgical Site Infections Learn about efficacy in decreasing SSIs when a hospital provided preoperative bathing cloths to patients. William R. Jarvis, MD, offers some perspective on this approach.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, June 24, 2011
Decreasing MRSA in the Hospital William R. Jarvis, MD, describes a large VA study he calls “impressive” that offers guidance in decreasing MRSA infections in the hospital.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, June 17, 2011
Beware: Nursing Home Patients and Risk for MRSA Nursing home patients have a high prevalence of MRSA -- if your hospital is only screening high-risk patients, be sure those from nursing homes are on the list!
Medscape Infectious Diseases, April 07, 2011
A Multifaceted Infection Control Intervention Is Successful in Decreasing MRSA William R. Jarvis, MD, reviews a new study that shows that we know how to prevent MRSA in the hospital setting. When will this approach be implemented by all?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, March 31, 2011
Counting Central Line-Associated Infections in the ICU An important new study sheds light on how best to determine the number of central line-associated bloodstream infections in the ICU. William R. Jarvis, MD, offers perspective.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, March 18, 2011
Reducing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) in the ICU William R. Jarvis, MD, describes a recently published study on simple methods to reduce VAP.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, January 04, 2011
How Accurate Is Nosocomial Bloodstream Infection Rate Surveillance? William R. Jarvis, MD, has some major concerns about the data used for comparisons of bloodstream infection rates between hospitals.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, December 09, 2010
Reducing Intraventricular Catheter-Related Ventriculitis in the ICU Learn how a bundle of very simple practices dramatically reduced catheter-related infections in the ICU. William R. Jarvis, MD, highlights an important new study.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, November 18, 2010
Influenza Surveillance: Lessons Learned From Hong Kong As we move into influenza season, Dr. William R. Jarvis points out that we can learn a great deal about surveillance, reporting, and the importance of immunization from our colleagues in Hong Kong.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, November 17, 2010
Surgical Site Infections After Cardiac Surgery: Surveillance and Reimbursement Systems designed for surveillance of SSIs will now be used for determining reimbursement, not considering the most important risk factors for infection. William R. Jarvis, MD, explains.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, October 27, 2010
How Do We Do Surveillance for Catheter-Associated BSIs? How is your ICU's rate of catheter-associated bloodstream infections determined and why is this important? William R. Jarvis, MD, offers some details about the process you need to consider
Medscape Infectious Diseases, October 15, 2010
Detection, Prevention, and Control of MRSA in the NICU Learn how NICUs screen for MRSA, how screening is done, and what steps are taken next. William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on a new study.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, August 19, 2010
Influenza -- New Research With Implications for Clinical Practice Three new studies -- on clinical presentation, diagnosis, and healthcare worker protection -- offer guidance for next year’s influenza season. William R. Jarvis, MD, comments.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, July 26, 2010
Assessing Patients for Potential Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections If you are considering a diagnosis of CRBSI, how many lumens should be cultured? William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on new research.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, July 16, 2010
Treatment of TB in Patients With Drug-Induced Hepatitis This is a dicussion of the CID article on a randomized controlled trial of various regimens for re-starting TB treatment in persons with drug induced hepatitis.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, June 09, 2010
Do Patients With a History of MRSA Always Require Isolation in the Hospital? William R. Jarvis, MD, offers his perspective on a new study that examines the need to isolate all patients with a history of MRSA colonization. Is it always necessary?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, May 14, 2010
Thermal Scanners: How Useful? Infrared thermal detection systems have been used at airports in several countries to screen travelers. How valuable are they at predicting fever? William R. Jarvis, MD, offers video commentary.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, April 21, 2010
Cleaning Hospital Rooms After Patient Discharge Which is best for terminal disinfection of hospital rooms -- bleach, H2O2 vapor, or UV light? William R. Jarvis, MD, comments on recent research reports in this video commentary.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, April 14, 2010
MRSA in the NICU: Avoiding Colonization and Infection Three recent reports examine MRSA in the NICU setting, with a focus on universal screening, isolation, and hand hygiene. Video commentary is offered by William R. Jarvis, MD.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, March 22, 2010
Preventing Surgical Site Infections on Hospital Admission Nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus are at increased risk for infection. Learn about the effects of rapid screening and decolonization in this video blog by William R. Jarvis, MD.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, February 12, 2010
Skin Preparation to Prevent Surgical Site Infections (SSIs) In this video blog, William R. Jarvis, MD, reviews a newly published paper comparing different methods of preoperative skin preparation to prevent SSIs.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, January 27, 2010
How Do Mechanical Valves Affect CVC-Associated Bloodstream Infections? In this video blog, William R. Jarvis, MD, describes a recent paper highlighting the need to know what connectors a hospital is using and the infection control guidelines that are in place.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, January 19, 2010
Early Detection and Treatment of MRSA in Surgical Patients Can MRSA be reduced in surgical patients, even when isolation rooms are not available? William R. Jarvis, MD, offers his commentary on a new study in this video blog.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, December 09, 2009
Surgical Masks vs N95 Respirators: Research and Practice A well-designed study examines the efficacy of surgical masks in protecting healthcare workers against influenza. William R. Jarvis, MD, comments in this video blog.
Medscape Infectious Diseases, November 17, 2009
Respiratory Protection for Healthcare Workers: 2009 H1N1 Influenza In this video blog, William R. Jarvis, MD, reviews the varying recommendations for 2009 H1N1 influenza protection -- N95 respirators or surgical face masks?
Medscape Infectious Diseases, November 02, 2009

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