Resource Articles

Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborne disease which can be detected with skin testing.

Because macaques can carry a virus that is deadly to humans, workers need to know how to reduce their risk of exposure as well as what to do if they get exposed.

Typically, there is no serious complication for a pregnant woman or her baby from exposure to a person with Parvovirus B19, or "Fifth" disease. About 50% of women are already immune to Parvovirus B19, so these women and their babies are protected from infection and illness. Even if a woman is susceptible and gets infected with Parvovirus B19, she usually experiences only a mild illness. Likewise, her unborn baby usually does not have any problems attributable to a Parvovirus B19 infection.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV is one of the many cold-type upper respiratory infections that most of us acquire during the cold and flu season. For premature or medically-frail infants, the infection could become very serious, even fatal.  RSV is a paramyxovirus and there are 2 types, A and B.

Rubella (German Measles) is a highly contagious viral illness with symptoms very similar to rubeola (red measles, commonly referred to simply as "measles") but differs in the severity of symptoms and length of illness. The most serious threat of rubella is to the pregnant female who has never had rubella. If exposed to rubella, she can contract the disease which can cause serious problems for the unborn baby.

VUMC faculty and staff born after 1956 are required to be vaccinated against measles unless they have laboratory-proven immunity to measles.

Parvovirus B-19 infection is also known as Fifth Disease. Fifth Disease is usually a mild illness that resolves without medical treatment among children and adults who are otherwise healthy. However, pregnant women who are infected with Parvovirus during early pregnancy have a 5% risk of miscarriage. (Also see article Parvovirus B19 Exposure in Pregnancy.)

VRE (Vancomycin Resistant Enterocci) and MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus) are common in hospitals. Staph is a normal bacteria on human skin and Enterocci are normal bacteria in the human bowel. Patients who have been hospitalized for long periods develop resistant bacteria as a result of exposure to many antibiotics or the hospital environment. In recent years resistant organisms have become very common in the community and patients often bring them into the hospital.