Mycobacterium chimaera outbreak: A practical review

Mike recently posted a “how to guide” for centers struggling with the response to this global outbreak. Now there’s also a review available online from ICHE—Mike and I each contributed, but the heavy lifting was done by our colleagues in Switzerland (Sommerstein, Schreiber, Hasse, Marschall and Sax). Table 1 in this paper (see below) provides practical interim suggestions. Check it out—and thanks to Cambridge for making this an open access article.

On a personal note: it’s been over a month since I posted on this blog—since the Cubs won the World Series, in fact. That event, and the US presidential election shortly thereafter, has me wondering if the world has somehow shifted on its axis. This is not a political blog, but it’s disingenuous not to recognize the anxiety we feel about an incoming U.S. administration that has had such a creative relationship with facts, with science, and with the idea of the common good. I’ll admit it has been hard for me to sleep some nights, amidst justifiable concerns about what may happen to our healthcare system, and to AHRQ, CDC, NIH, VHA, etc.

At some point, though, we just need to redouble our own efforts, wherever we are, to do the work we do best, and to speak up when things happen that threaten progress toward safe, effective and accessible health care. One of my favorite songs by Paul Simon has it right: “still, tomorrow is gonna be another working day (and I'm trying to get some rest).”