C. diff. Spores and More

Join us with guests, Lori Strazdas, MPH

and Dr. Charles Gerba, MD as they discuss

how Schools are notorious for the spread of infectious organisms and C. difficile is a growing concern in the community. As our children return to the classroom for another school year, it is important to revisit best practices for cleaning facilities, disinfecting surfaces, and preventing infections that are commonly acquired in schools. In this episode, we will also discuss the increased risk posed to children in school environments and the specific infections that are prevalent in schools. We will discuss steps that schools can take to mitigate infection risks for their students and communities. You will also learn which specific disinfecting products to use in schools depending on what type of infections are recognized in your student population.

Join us with guests, Lori Strazdas, MPH

and Dr. Charles Gerba, MD as they discuss

how Schools are notorious for the spread of infectious organisms and C. difficile is a growing concern in the community. As our children return to the classroom for another school year, it is important to revisit best practices for cleaning facilities, disinfecting surfaces, and preventing infections that are commonly acquired in schools. In this episode, we will also discuss the increased risk posed to children in school environments and the specific infections that are prevalent in schools. We will discuss steps that schools can take to mitigate infection risks for their students and communities. You will also learn which specific disinfecting products to use in schools depending on what type of infections are recognized in your student population.

Join our guests Sue Barnes, RN, BSN, CIC, FAPIC and Wesley LaPorte a graduate of Brigham Young University in Life Sciences, as they discuss the role of contaminated environmental surfaces and the patient environment in healthcare settings. Mobile electronic devices, such as cell phones and computer tablets are improving the provision of healthcare but do entail unintended consequences coming in contact with contaminated surfaces harboring harmful germs. Learn more about the types of bacteria that can be transmitted, the healthcare environments, and the positive uses of UV light being used in healthcare environments addressing the prevention of transmission of germs throughout healthcare settings.

Join us as guests Sue Barnes, RN, BSN, CIC, FAPIC, Independent and Board Certified Clinical Consultant in Infection Control and Prevention and APIC Fellow with Lori Strazdas, MPH - Public Health Liaison with Clorox Healthcare discuss the importance of C. difficile and how difficult of an infection it is to manage not only for patients but for the caretakers and loved ones. Before the patient leaves the hospitals, it is critical to understand the proper steps to reduce the spread of C. difficile spores in the home environment. In this episode, learn why it is important to focus on the home environment during and after a C. difficile infection and what can be done to reduce the risk of transmission and recurrence. Our guests will be discussing the types of disinfecting products that can be utilized to effectively kill C. diff. spores and how to use the products properly to accomplish this in the home environment.

Join us with our guest, Dr Mary Beth Dorr, PhD, Clinical Director, Clinical Research, Infectious Diseases,

Merck & Co., Inc. as Mary Beth provides us with an overview of a C. diff. infection, the challenges of recurrence, latest clinical research overview, current treatment landscape, and pending new C. diff infection treatment guidelines from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) that are anticipated to come out this fall.

Join us with our guests Bruce Rippe, CEO of Trinity Guardion and J. Darrel Hicks, BA, Master REH, CHESP as we discuss HAIs and how they lead to more than 720,000 illnesses and 75,000 deaths a year. In fact, more people die from HAIs each year than from automobile accidents. Furthermore, HAIs are a huge financial burden, adding $30 billion to annual healthcare costs. The American-made Trinity Patient Protection System gives hospitals the solution they need to reduce and eliminate HAIs. Launderable, reusable, cost-effective and eco-friendly, the Trinity System’s fluid-proof covers fit around beds, pillows, stretchers and physical therapy tables. Unlike typical disinfectant agents designed for hard surfaces, the Trinity System keeps bacteria off the porous surface of the mattress, as well as, the bed deck. When laundered to CDC standards, the Trinity System removes 99.99% of bacteria and has been proven to reduce C. diff infection rates by about 50%.

Join us with our topic experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Clifford McDonald, CDC's Associate Director for Science in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion and Dr. Alison Laufer-Halpin, Team Lead in the Clinical and Environmental Microbiology Branch of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. Doctors McDonald and Laufer-Halpin will be discussing the significant ways to unlock the mysteries of the microbiome and the role of the human microbiome; how it affects our health, the immune system, and why it's so important to protect it.

If you have any questions prior to the live broadcast, email them to [email protected] and we will ask the topic experts joining us.

Join us with our guest James Psihas, a graduate Engineer of University of Arizona, as we discuss preventing cross contamination in a healthcare environment. Hand held devices such as phones, iPads, stethoscopes, glucometers, telemetry boxes and more travel from room to room picking up pathogens and become vectors of cross contamination that can result in healthcare acquired infections(HAI's) such as C.diff. and MRSA. Until the implementation of Dr. Wayne Clarks Advanced UV Systems technology developed for the department of defense to kill Anthrax hospitals the healthcare industry had very few tools available to consistently decontaminate these items without damaging expensive electronics.

Sanofi Pasteur, one of the leading vaccine manufacturers in the world, is in the midst of its Phase III clinical trial called Cdiffense to study its investigational vaccine to prevent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). The trial is now in more than 20 countries across 5 continents to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of an investigational vaccine for the prevention of primary, symptomatic CDI.

The investigational C. diff vaccine is designed to produce an immune response that targets the toxins generated by C. diff bacteria, which can cause inflammation of the gut. The investigative vaccine ultimately may help prevent a future infection from occurring. Volunteers for the study should be age 50 or older and planning an upcoming hospitalization or have had at least two hospital stays and have received systemic antibiotics in the past year. For more information on the Cdiffense trial, please visit www.Cdiffense.org

Join us with our guest, Dr. Joseph Sliman, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of Synthetic Biologics as Dr. Sliman discusses the protection of the natural gut microbiome from the unintended consequences of intravenous (IV) antibiotics which are excreted into the gut is expected to protect against opportunistic enteric infections. Synthetic Biologics is developing two microbiome-focused drug candidates in Phase 3 development including, SYN-004 (ribaxamase) which is designed to protect the gut microbiome by degrading certain IV beta-lactam antibiotics for the prevention of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), pathogenic overgrowth and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, and SYN-010 which is intended to reduce the impact of methane producing organisms in the gut microbiome to treat an underlying cause of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C).