Communications

Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, November 18–24

This is an annual effort to coordinate the work of CDC’s Get Smart campaign (outpatient and inpatient), state-based appropriate antibiotic use campaigns, non-profit partners, and for-profit partners during a one-week observance of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic use. As part of the Week, a Twitter chat and Satellite Media Tour were hosted. More information.

CDC Grand Rounds, November 19

Lauri Hicks (DBD/RDB) (photo at right), along with three other speakers, presented information on how consumers, healthcare providers, and policy makers can work together on using antibiotics wisely by participating in CDC’s Public Health Grand Rounds on “Combating Resistance: Getting Smart About Antibiotics.” For more information, visit the archived presentation.

Group B Strep App

On September 7, 2013, “Prevent Group B Strep” was added to the iTunes App Store. “Prevent Group B Strep” is a standalone application that provides patient-specific and scenario-specific guidance consistent with the 2010 Guidelines for the Prevention of Perinatal GBS Disease. The app generates customized guidelines based on user input of patient characteristics.

With this app, you can:

• Select their portal—obstetric or neonatal—and answer questions about their patient
• Receive specific patient management guidance based on the scenario they have entered
• Obtain appropriate antibiotic regimens for obstetric patients requiring intrapartum prophylaxis

Learn more about the app, which more than 3,000 people have already downloaded.

Spanish-Language Pertussis Infographic

Pregnant women now need a Tdap shot during every pregnancy to protect them from pertussis (whooping cough) and pass some protection to their newborns. Learn the three best ways to protect babies from whooping cough in this new CDC pertussis infographic available in Spanish.

New ELISA Website

A new ELISA website went live on September 4, 2013. ELISA for Windows is a series of programs or program modules that process bioassay data collected from 96 well ELISA plates downloaded from several different models of ELISA readers. This software is fully validated and the validation documents are available for download. View the new website.

Legionnaires’ Disease on Travel Channel

The original Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Philadelphia, PA, was highlighted on Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum show on September 19, 2013. This show tells the stories behind interesting and unusual artifacts stored in museums, including a sample from this outbreak that is kept at the CDC David J. Sencer Museum. RDB laboratorian Claressa Lucas was featured in the episode. View at http://www.travelchannel.com/video/deadly-legionnaires-disease.