APIC 2024 Update IP & C Strategies to Combat Emerging Infectious Diseases
By Kelly M . Pyrek
their presentation at the annual
In conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology ( APIC ), “ Emerging Pathogen Threats : Strategies for Infection Prevention & Control ,” Mariana Portillo Torres , MD , and Doe Kley , RN , MPH , LTC-CIP , CIC , examined present and future emerging pathogen threats for the U . S . as well as addressed screening considerations and the risks for delays in diagnosis and in implementing infection prevention and control ( IP & C ) measures .
The presenters pointed to former U . S . Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ’ s observation that “ There are known knowns , known unknowns , and unknown unknowns .”
“ I believe there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns to a degree ,” remarked Kley . “ We believe that AIDS or emerging infectious diseases are an unknown unknown .”
Torres then reviewed the emerging pathogens around the globe . “ Over the last 20 years , we have had at least seven public health emergencies of international concern ,” she said . “ And they are happening more frequently and with greater intensity . They include influenza , COVID , dengue , rabies , measles , cholera , malaria , even diphtheria . All of these are vaccine-preventable diseases which represent approximately 70 percent of all the infectious diseases threats that we encountered last year .”
Torres also addressed emerging and re-emerging pathogens in the U . S ., including outbreaks of dengue and Valley fever in California and Arizona , meningococcal disease in Colorado and Virginia , malaria and vibrio in Texas , leprosy in Florida , measles in Utah and Kentucky , Babsiosis in Vermont , New Hampshire and Maine , as well as swine flu in Michigan , and many others .
“ We had Scrub typhus reported in North Carolina , and while it is endemic in many
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