Business Wire

WDGMC

5.4.2022 08:47:12 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
South African Teaching Hospital Achieves CRE Superbug Decrease Following Novel Environmental Hygiene Intervention

Wits University Donald Gordon Medical Centre announced novel study results indicating for the first time that Ultraviolet (UV) room decontamination technology paired with manual cleaning protocols decreased the transmission of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) by 23% in a hospital setting. The study results have been published in the March 2022 issue of The Journal of Hospital Infection.

The team of researchers at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC), the first private teaching hospital in South Africa, demonstrated the reduction in CRE transmission following a 26-month study and the sustained use of a UV room decontamination device (UVDI-360 Room Sanitizer, provided by US-based manufacturer UVDI and eHealthGroup Infection Control) as an adjunct to standard cleaning, including the use of bleach and quaternary ammonium disinfectants, across the 210-bed hospital. The intervention included broad UV room decontamination across five high-risk patient units (including critical care, oncology, transplant and gastrointestinal surgery rooms) during a 12-month period following a 12-month baseline and two-month, wash-in period.

“Our team’s study indicated that enhanced environmental hygiene utilizing UV room decontamination technology in the hospital can help prevent the transmission of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales , an especially challenging set of multidrug-resistant organisms,” stated lead investigator Dr. Warren Lowman, Clinical Microbiologist & Infection Prevention and Control Specialist, Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

The UV room decontamination device was implemented in three usage scenarios: terminal cleaning following patient discharge, terminal cleaning following patient transfer and, in a novel treatment, occupied rooms where the patient had an existing MDRO infection and was moved during device use. For each scenario, the UV device was operated with five-minute treatment cycles, the number of which varied per room setting and size.

CRE refers to a broader set of microorganisms that demonstrate resistance to at least one of the Carbapenem antibiotics.1 Recent published surveillance studies in South Africa have indicated a CRE infection crude mortality rate of nearly 40%.2

“This research underlines WDGMC’s steadfast commitment to patient and staff safety through the use of novel infection prevention protocols,” said Dr. Sue Tager, Chief Executive Officer, Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre. “In the ongoing fight to prevent the transmission of superbugs, both in and beyond Africa, these results provide hope and concrete proof that effective solutions exist.”

About Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre

Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC) is the first and only private teaching hospital in South Africa. It was established in 2002 when the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) bought the Kenridge Hospital with a founding donation from the Donald Gordon Foundation. The institution was then renamed the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre. The 210-bed facility’s main specialties are transplant surgery, oncology (paediatric and adult), gastroenterology (medical and surgical), geriatric medicine, interventional radiology ophthalmology, ear-nose and throat, urology, nephrology, cardiology, women’s health and orthopaedics.

___________

1 https://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/cre/technical-info.html
2 Perovic O, Ismail H, Quan V, Bamford C, Nana T, Chibabhai V, Bhola P, Ramjathan P, Swe Swe-Han K, Wadula J, Whitelaw A, Smith M, Mbelle N, Singh-Moodley A; for GERMS-SA. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in patients with bacteraemia at tertiary hospitals in South Africa, 2015 to 2018. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2020 Jul;39(7):1287-1294. doi: 10.1007/s10096-020-03845-4. Epub 2020 Mar 2. PMID: 32124106.

Link:

ClickThru

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

JSS: 2025 Sake Exports Grew Steadily, Reaching a Record 81 Markets6.2.2026 04:00:00 CET | Press release

Sake exports continued to expand in 2025 in both value and volume, with export destinations reaching a record 81 countries and regions. Export value increased 6% year on year to 45.9 billion yen, while export volume rose 8% to 33.55 million liters (3.73 million cases on a 9-liter basis), marking the second-highest export performance on record. The average export unit price per 750 ml bottle declined 2% year on year to 1,026 yen. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260205671686/en/ Sake Export Performance by Country (Top 10, 2025) Export value has nearly doubled since 2020, and the CAGR over the past five years reached 14%. This underscores sake’s position as a high-growth category globally. Asia remained the largest export destination, with export value totaling 28.8 billion yen, representing an 8% increase year on year and accounting for 63% of total export value. North America recorded exports of 12.4 billion ye

Canva Brings On-Brand Designs Directly into AI Assistants6.2.2026 00:00:00 CET | Press release

Designs created in ChatGPT now come to life in Canva, instantly on brand and ready to use The future of work is being rewritten by AI, with professionals accomplishing in minutes what used to take hours. But there's been one persistent breaking point in AI assistants: generic visual outputs and off-brand colors that undermine AI speed with tedious manual cleanup. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260205384226/en/ Canva Today, that friction ends as Canva brings brand intelligence directly into the AI tools where modern day work happens most. Starting now, ChatGPT users can create designs completely tied to their Canva Brand Kit, making a company’s brand come to life visually and function as a living participant in AI workflows. This expansion marks the coming together of Canva and ChatGPT, two category-defining platforms, in a new way to make on-brand design more accessible and fluid. From client-ready pitch deck

DNIB.com Reports Internet Has 386.9 Million Domain Name Registrations at the End of the Fourth Quarter of 20255.2.2026 23:04:00 CET | Press release

VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), a global provider of critical internet infrastructure and domain name registry services, today announced that, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report from DNIB.com, the fourth quarter of 2025 closed with 386.9 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 8.4 million domain name registrations, or 2.2% compared to the third quarter of 2025. Domain name registrations also increased by 22.7 million, or 6.2%, year over year. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined total of 173.5 million domain name registrations in the domain name base at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 1.6 million domain name registrations, or 0.9% compared to the third quarter of 2025. The .com and .net TLDs had a combined increase of 4.5 million domain name registrations, or 2.6%, year over year. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the .com domain name base totaled 161.0 million domain name registrations and the .net

Calix CEO Michael Weening To Keynote at MWC26 Barcelona: How Agentic AI Enables an ‘Experience of One’ for Every Subscriber5.2.2026 20:30:00 CET | Press release

In a livestreamed keynote at Mobile World Congress, Weening will reveal how service providers can turn agentic AI into operational advantage, personalizing at scale to grow subscribers while increasing ARPU and reducing churn Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Weening will deliver a keynote in the Tuesday morning, March 3, “Architects of the AI Age” session at MWC26 Barcelona. Calix’s presence at MWC, the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event, extends the momentum following the recent launch of the company’s AI‑native platform. Weening will take the MWC Main Stage on Tuesday morning to reveal a transformative vision for telecommunications: how agentic AI enables service providers to deliver an “experience of one” to millions of subscribers simultaneously—personalizing every interaction in real time, unlocking new revenue streams, and fundamentally redefining what it means to grow in the connected world. He will

Andersen Consulting udvider sine kompetencer med tilføjelsen af SHMA5.2.2026 19:20:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse

Andersen Consulting indgår en samarbejdsaftale med SHMA, en førende virksomhed inden for aktuarfaglig og finansiel rådgivning med hovedsæde i De Forenede Arabiske Emirater. SHMA er et aktuarfagligt rådgivningsfirma med næsten fire årtiers erfaring i at hjælpe organisationer med at navigere i kompleksitet, håndtere risiko og skabe muligheder gennem aktuarfaglig og forsikringsmæssig rådgivning, risikostyring samt værdiansættelse af slutvederlag (End-of-Service Benefits, EOSB). Ved at samarbejde med forsikringsselskaber, pensionsordninger samt private og offentlige organisationer hjælper SHMA sine kunder med at opbygge robuste og resiliente organisationer. "Hos SHMA er kvalitet, skræddersyede løsninger og ægte menneskelig forbindelse i centrum for vores mission," udtaler Shariq Sikander, direktør for SHMA. "Samarbejdet med Andersen Consulting giver os mulighed for at udvide vores indflydelse globalt og styrke vores aktuarfaglige ydelser ud over MENA-regionen, samtidig med at vi leverer in

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye