Acinetobacter doesn't garner as many headlines as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the dangerous superbug better known as MRSA. But a January report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America warned that drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii and two other microbes could soon produce a toll to rival MRSA's. The three bugs belong to a large category of bacteria called "gram-negative" that are especially hard to fight because they are wrapped in a double membrane and harbor enzymes that chew up many antibiotics. As dangerous as MRSA is, some antibiotics can still treat it, and more are in development, experts say.
Navigating the bureaucracy of public assistance programs and fighting for legal entitlements ranging from disability benefits to special education requirements are tough tasks for many people. Low-income families are in even more of a bind, social service advocates say, because they often aren't aware of resources and can't afford legal representation. But a pilot program in Missouri brings lawyers into hospital settings when a medical diagnosis alone can't solve the problem. The program, the Children's Health Advocacy Project, is expanding now with a $573,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health.
When a stray pit bull attacked 12-year-old Dontae Adams last August, tearing a chunk of the boy's upper lip from his face, his mother took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center. Instead of rushing Dontae into surgery, however, the hospital's staff began pressing her about insurance, Angela Adams said. Adams said she demanded that the medical staff admit Dontae but that they refused. The emergency room staff gave Dontae a tetanus shot, a dose of morphine, prescriptions for antibiotics and Tylenol 3, and told Adams to "follow up with Cook County" in one week, according to medical center documents.
Fort Worth, TX-based John Peter Smith Hospital is seeking approval to become a Level 1 trauma center, the highest-level of accreditation that would allow the most serious injuries and illnesses to be treated at the hospital. JPS trauma services are currently at Level 2, and JPS would need to add the ability to perform cardiac bypass surgery, among other things. The process to become a Level 1 trauma center could take about a year.
The emergency room of Santa Clara County, CA's busiest hospital was closed for more than four hours Feb. 12 because of a scare involving a man who had been overcome by a byproduct of sewer gas at his home. The 18-year-old man was brought to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose after being found unconscious in his home. He was not decontaminated before being admitted, and at first authorities had no idea what had felled him. As a precaution, the emergency department was quarantined, and dozens of people were decontaminated.
Water tests confirmed that two units at Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital were the source of the bacteria that caused Legionnaires' disease in four patients. "We're comfortable right now that it’s only the two units," Leon Haley, MD, deputy senior vice president of medical affairs at Grady, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The two Grady patient units—and 80 beds—have been closed since last week. Grady officials said crews are hyper-chlorinating additional floors and will continue testing throughout the hospital.