Healthcare Safety Index – January 2016

Here are healthcare safety issues that have appeared in the news and medical journals throughout the last 30 days or so:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a recommendation that men with a pregnant partner should abstain from sex or use a condom if they live in or visited an area where mosquitos are spreading the Zika virus. Additionally, the CDC also recommended that pregnant women who have visited countries and territories plagued by the virus, mostly in Latin America, should be tested even if they do not exhibit symptoms of infection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that hospitalized patients, patients with severe, complicated or progressive illness and patients at high risk for complications due to influenza be treated with antiviral medication irrespective of the outcome of rapid influenza diagnostic test results. The reasons for this are that (a) there have been reports of severe influenza with some deaths and (b) RIDT results have a high potential for false negatives.

A study published in Pediatrics found that exposure to beta-2 adrenergic agonists during pregnancy (used in asthma drugs) may increase the risk for autism spectrum disorders in children.

The American College of Physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new clinical guideline on antibiotic use in adults with acute respiratory tract infections.Except for confirmed bacterial infections like streptococcal pharyngitis or acute bacterial sinusitis, antibiotics should not routinely be used.