The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "preventable infections" ...
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No Small Thing
The Poughkeepsie Journal series “No Small Thing” goes where no other newspaper or media outlet has – it challenges the mainstream medical dogma on Lyme disease. In rigorously documented articles, Projects Writer Mary Beth Pfeiffer concludes that the major actors in this public health scandal -- chiefly the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Infectious Disease Society of America – have minimized and mismanaged a burgeoning epidemic of tick-borne disease at great harm to thousands of infected people. These two powerful institutions have held – in policy and pronouncement -- that Lyme disease is easy to diagnose and easy to cure. It is neither.
Tags: Media coverage; public health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC
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Do No Harm
For the first time, reporters published an analysis of Nevada's state hospital records and revealed nearly 1000 cases of preventable harm to patients over the past decade. There are also reports of widespread hospital-acquired infections and countless cases of accidental surgical injuries. The reporters show that hospitals have tried to keep this information hidden from the public.
Tags: hospital care; preventable harm; transparency; surgical injuries; public records
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Culture of Resistance
The Seattle Time analyzed millions of computerized hospital records, death certificate and other documents to track the swath of one of the nation's most widespread, and preventable, epidemics. In its investigation, the Times gained access to state files that revealed 672 previously undisclosed deaths attributable to the infection. The Times also found that in Seattle's largest public hospital, some patients who are infected with contagious MRSA are roomed with non-infected patients because of overcrowding. In at least a dozen cases, the Times proved that death certificates were inaccurate or incomplete when it came to MRSA.
Tags: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); Washington state; health and safety; infectious diseases; epidemiology; staph infections.
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Infectious State
WISH-TV investigated how many people become worse or develop an infection while in hospitals in Indianapolis. "What happens when hospitals are left to police themselves?"
Tags: hospitals; patients; infections; hospital-acquired infections; preventable infections; hospital infections; infection rates; outbreak
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Hepatitis C: Silent Alarm
This series documented the government's numerous failures to warn the American public about hepatitis C, a disease that has infected more than 4 million people in the United States. The series found that the federal government promised repeatedly to raise a public alarm about the disease but reneged almost every time. As a result, most people with hepatitis C don't even know they have it and may be spreading it. The series also found that Congress and CDC give hepatitis C a fraction of the funding and attention they give other disease such as West Nile, that has killed several hundreds. The government promised a search to find nearly two hundred thousand patients who received infected blood transfusions before 1992, when a test was available to screen out infected blood, but four years later, the campaign had stalled. The blood industry in the 1980's delayed a screening test six years that could have prevented hepatitis C in more than 300,000 patients who received blood transfusions. the government never ordered the test even though it was aware of the seriousness of the disease.
Tags: hepatitis c; virus; AIDS; public alarm; Congress; Center for Disease Control and Prevention; HCV; funding; West Nile; infected blood transfusions; infected blood; blood industry; screening test; donated blood; CDC; CDC spending; HCV money; National Institute of Health; Health and Human Services; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; FDA's Office of Blood Research and Review; Blood Products Advisory Committee; Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability; blood banks; Community Blood Center of Kansas City; Oklahoma Blood Institute
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Unhealthy Hospital
This Chicago Tribune three-day series investigates the "hidden epidemic of life-threatening infections that is contaminating America's hospitals, needlessly killing tens of thousands of patients each year." The Tribune found that in 2000, nearly three-quarters of the deadly hospital-acquired infections were preventable and that serious violations of infection-control standards have been found in nearly three-quarters of the nation's hospitals.
Tags: infections; hospitals; health care; hospital-acquired infections; germs; contamination; infection control
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When Rubbers Hit the Road
In the mid-90s, the number of new AIDS cases amongst gay men took a steep decline. This improvement has vanished the last couple of years. Webb writes on the fact that promoting safe sex might not be enough to stem the tide of new AIDS infections in the gay community. Aggressive techniques such as contact tracing might do the job. The technique is effective when used with heterosexuals. Webb argues that different societal attitudes towards the seperate communities should not prevent an aggressive fight against the disease.
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Clear and present danger
The Washington Post Magazine describes the disastrous epidemics that can ensue, if smallpox is ever used as a biological weapon. The story reveals that smallpox is known as a highly contageous ancient scourge, which "has killed countless millions." The article focuses on the expert knowledge of Ken Alibek, former second-in-command manager of Biopreparat, the Soviet Union's vast biological weapons program. "Bioterrrism experts now believe the smallox virus exists in clandestine biowarfare laboratories in at least three, and possibly more, countries," the magazine reports. The article depicts the symptoms of the deadly disease, and warns about the unbelievable speed that infection can spread with.
Tags: Biopreparat; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; World Health Organization; defense; research; Russia; Iraq; North Korea; variola; immunization; pox; epidemics
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The Sexual Evolution
Atlanta Magazine examines how the appearabce of AIDS in 1981 has changed the sexual patterns in today's society. The story criticizes the "misplaced American prudery," which prevents a realistic diologue about AIDS prevention, and looks at the "smiling pharmaceutical ads [that] downplay the disease's devastation and lull the HIV-negative population into a false sense of security." The analysis reveals that gay's community infection rates have started to surge again in the beginning of 2001, and cites estimates that 10 percent of the homeless population is infected.
Tags: medicine; health; sex; homosexuals; pharamaceuticals; drugs; gay; lesbian; condoms; HIV; African-Americans
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Nearly 1,000 Deaths Were Preventable Review Shows
After reviewing more than 300,000 death certificates from 1990 to 1999, the Tulsa World found nearly 1000 people died of preventable causes in Oklahoma nursing homes. In addition, their investigation found "doctors actually viewed the body after death in only about three out of every 20 cases." Furthermore, records show autopsies were performed "in less than one percent of nursing home deaths in the 10-year period." The article details preventable causes of death in nursing homes (dehydration, falls, urinary tract infections), the warning signs of poor health care and what citizens are doing to change the system.
Tags: nursing homes; elderly; medicine; doctors; Oklahoma State Health Department; autopsies; death; health care