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Common viruses pose a serious threat in nursing homes, often sabotaging standard infection control measures, a new case study suggests.
"Long-term care facilities have unique challenges. Infection-control policies from acute care hospitals cannot simply be mirrored in this setting and expected to work," said study lead author Dr. Schaefer Spires.
His report details a 16-day outbreak of two viruses -- respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (HMPV) -- that swept through a long-term dementia ward in Tennessee. Nearly three-quarters of the patients became sick and five died.
"RSV and HMPV are viruses that need to be taken as seriously as we take the flu, especially in older adults," said Spires, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.