Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
As the new year begins, we face continuing challenges in infection prevention and control. In this episode, the Divas discuss some of the pressing issues including the latest Omicron variant, XBB.1.5.
I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Wan. And together we are the Compliance Divas.
SPEAKER_02
Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. I'm Mary Gavoni and I'll be the moderator for this episode. The Compliance Divas bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. You can subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedivas.com. All the resources we mentioned during our podcast can be found on the ComplianceDivas website, thecompliancedivas.com. If you have questions, feel free to submit them by email to support at thecompliancedivas.com. So here we are at the beginning of 2023. And I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that would wish for a better year in terms of better news about infection prevention and control. We certainly want to wish all of our listeners a happy and healthy new year, but we continue to face challenges on infection prevention and control. And so we're going to take just a quick look at what some of these key challenges are. And Leslie, we're going to start with you. We have some updates from the CDC on the incidence of flu, which we've been hearing has been part of this triple demic of flu and RSV and COVID. So what can you share with us, Leslie, about what's going on with the incidence of flu right now?
SPEAKER_00
Well, Mary, what CDC tells us is that the seasonal influenza activity remains high, but continues to decline in most areas. So that's good news. And of the influenza A viruses that are detected and subtype during what they call week 51, 83% were influenza A, which is H3N2, and 17% were influenza A, H1N1. You may remember H1N1 is our swine flu, as it's commonly called. 14 influenza-associated pediatric deaths were reported for this week, and a total of 61 pediatric flu deaths were reported so far this season. Now, CDC estimates that so far this season there's been at least 20 million illnesses, 210,000 hospitalizations, and 13,000 deaths from flu. Now that's the the most current update from Centers for Disease Control for uh at least this week, which we're we're broadcasting on January 2nd of 2023.
SPEAKER_02
Thanks, Leslie. That is some good news. Um flu rates are higher than normal, but they're starting to decrease. So anything is is good news in that department. Olivia, we've heard over the past weekend about the prevalence of a new Omicron variant. What can you tell us about that?
SPEAKER_01
Sure. So we are learning more about this new subvariant of Omicron, and they refer to it as XBB.1.5. And we are concerned during, you know, we're coming out of the holiday season because people were traveling, they were in close quarters, they're not wearing a mask, and they could spread the virus. And CDC projected that about 40% of the confirmed COVID cases are actually due to this XBB.1.5 strain. And so that's actually up 20% from the week before. And it's actually accounting for 75% of the confirmed cases in the Northeast as of the date of recording this podcast. So they're not really sure where this version came from, but what we do know is that it's spreading quickly, so we need to be on caution for that. And it also can cause more severe illness than just the regular Omicron. So look for the viruses that include sore throat, hoarse voice, cough, fatigue, nasal congestion, runny nose, headache, and also muscle aches. So I think we should be on guard, Mary, about this.
SPEAKER_02
Thanks, Olivia. What this is one of the things that we've kind of been watching for is are there going to be more infectious and or vaccine-evasive subvariants, or are we going to see a whole new variant of um Omicron, especially now that China has um lifted many of its travel restrictions? So will we see some issues coming here? So our diva Linda was not able to be with us for this podcast, but she wants information to be shared about the increase in invasive group A strep infections. These are primarily in children. And in some cases, these infections are so invasive they're leading to necrotizing fasciitis, the um flesh-eating disease, to toxic shock syndrome and cellulitis. So many times we think of strep as well, it's a sore throat, you take some antibiotics, you get over it. Um, I always joke that a lot of times parents will call a dental practice and say, hey, can you know, Susie can't go to school today because she has strep, can she come in and have her teeth cleaned? And in some cases, the dental practice would say, Oh, sure, because we're wearing all of our PPE. And those days are gone, even though we know our PPE protects us. If you have a parent that calls you and says, you know, my child can't go to school today because they have some illness, then you tell them, and we cannot have them come in to our practice today as well. So we will post all the resources for the new variant, for um information about the group A strep and about flu statistics for you on our website. As we wrap up this podcast, we want to address a study that was cited by a number of groups, the American Dental Association, American Hygienist Association, and a number of other news sources about the results or that sort of headline that came from this study. It was at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. And the title or the headline for this study is dentists and COVID risks, no increased risk for dental practitioners during clinical activities. The study finds. So the concern that we have is that people will look at that and say, see, we did all this for nothing, there's no increased risk from clinical activities. Why are we wearing respirators? Why are we doing all these things? We will post the link to the study on our website and in the show notes. And I would encourage everyone to actually read this study because what the real deal is from this study is it concluded that there were no cases of COVID and there was some pretty stringent testing of these dental students at Harvard, was because they were wearing their N95 respirators and other appropriate personal protective equipment. We also don't have any kind of a control group, which wouldn't be so ethical to do, um, to compare this to for what would have been the incident of people who were not wearing the N95 respirators and the appropriate personal protective equipment. So to take the title of this at face value, I think, is doing a little bit of a disservice to dental professionals that you really have to read the study. And that goes with any scientific study that you read that um talks about infectious disease or other um things that may happen as a result of dental treatment. Make sure you really get all the facts. So, Leslie or Olivia, would you like to weigh in on this study as well?
SPEAKER_01
Mary, I just think that you pointed it out very well that it can really skew the facts. And before we let our guard down, we need to evaluate how the study was conducted and recognize that the PPE is effective, but without it, there would have been a lot of transmission. So that's the key. Uh Leslie probably has more comments. Yeah. Go ahead, Leslie.
SPEAKER_00
Well, of course, uh, we're talking about just COVID here, but there are other respiratory illnesses that we are exposed to in dentistry. And so the appropriate PPE is going to protect us from a number of different things that we could be exposed to. Uh, you know, standard precautions apply to everything, and wearing the right PPE is key. So uh let's not give up the N95 respirators so easily at this point.
SPEAKER_02
Absolutely. Thank you, Leslie. And so, in closing, we hope that these little tidbits of information about what is currently happening in the infection prevention world and the disease transmission world and dentistry will be helpful for you. One thing that I did want to sort of clarify is that I mentioned previously that we said, yeah, there's good news that flu cases are down, but the bad news always is that there are a high number of deaths from flu and pediatric deaths included in those. So we always need to be on our guard. We cannot let our guard down, as um Olivia stated earlier. So we hope you will join us for future episodes, future updates on what is happening in the regulatory world and in the world of infection prevention and control. Remember that the resources will be listed on in the show notes and on the compliance divas website, compliancedivas.com. And any questions that you may have, you may share with us by email at support at the compliance divas.com. Thanks for joining us. We hope to see you again on another episode.
