Healthcare Associated Infections—A New Pathology in Medical Practice?

Abstract

Background: Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) contribute to the emotional stress and functional disorders of the patient and in some cases, can lead to a state of disability that reduces quality of life. Often, HAI are one of the factors that lead to death. The purpose of this study was to analyze the cases of HAI identified in public hospitals at the county level, through case report sheets, as they are reported according to the Romanian legislation. Methods: We performed a cross sectional study design based on the case law of the data reported to the Mures Public Health Directorate, by all the public hospitals belonging to this county. We tracked hospital-acquired infections reported for 2017-2018, respectively, a number of 1024 cases, which implies a prevalence rate of 0.44%, 1024/228,782 cases discharged from these hospitals during the studied period. Results: The most frequent HAIs were reported by the intensive care units (48.4%), the most common infections being the following: bronchopneumonia (25.3%), enterocolitis with Clostridioides difficile (23.3%), sepsis, surgical wound infections and urinary tract infections. At the basis of HAI were 22 pathogens, but the five most common germs were Clostridioides difficile, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Bronchopneumonia have been most frequently reported in intensive care units, the most common being identified the Acinetobacter baumannii agent. Sepsis and central catheter infections also appeared predominantly in intensive care units, more often with Klebsiella pneumoniae. The enterocolitis with Clostridioides difficile, were the apanage of the medical sections. Infections with Staphylococcus aureus have been identified predominantly in the surgical sections at the level of the surgical wounds. Urinary infections had a similar distribution in the intensive care units, the medical and surgical sections, with Klebsiella pneumoniae being the most commonly incriminated agent. Conclusions: We showed a clear correspondence between the medical units and the type of HAI: what recommends the rapid, vigilant and oriented application of the prevention and control strategies of the HAI. Author Contributions: Data curation, S.V., S.A. and I.M.; Funding acquisition, B.G. and A.R.; Investigation, S.V., Réka Toth and I.M.; Methodology, S.V. and S.A.; Resources, R.T., B.G., A.R. and I.M.; Supervision, S.V., S.A. and I.M.; Visualization, R.T. and B.G.; Writing-original draft, S.V. and A.R.; Writing-review and editing, S.A. and B.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research received no external funding. Conflicts of Interest:The authors declare no conflict of interest.

A Six-Year Point Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-Associated Infections in an Italian Teaching Acute Care Hospital

“…The distribution of infection types in this study was similar to the one showed by the ECDC study, in which the highest prevalence of HAI was registered for pneumonia (1.3%) and SSI (1.3%) [ 3 ]. Unlike another study [ 12 ] that reported a high percentage of enterocolitis Clostridioides difficile, in our study, Clostridium difficile infections were not among the most frequent HAI. For these two conditions, however, the prevalence found in a study conducted in fifty-two Chinese hospitals was very different compared to our results [ 6 ].…”

“…In this survey 5.24% (95% CI: 4.70–5.83%) of patients, during the 6-year study period, had at least one HAI. The prevalence was slightly lower compared to the one previously reported from other European Countries (6.0%) [ 3 ] and the one reported from a recent USA study (6.0%) [ 11 ], but higher than the one from a Chinese report (3.7%) [ 6 ] and a cross-sectional Romanian study [ 12 ].…”

Composite P(3HB-3HV)-CS Spheres for Enhanced Antibiotic Efficiency

“…aeruginosa ) and two Gram-positive strains ( S. aureus , E. faecalis ). All considered bacterial species have a great biomedical impact, being involved in community and nosocomial infections [ 78 , 79 ] while developing increased antibiotic resistance rates in the last decades [ 80 , 81 ].…”

Hospital-Acquired SARS-Cov-2 Infections in Patients: Inevitable Conditions or Medical Malpractice?

“…However, prevalence rates of 5.7–7.1% in Europe and 4.5% in the United States have been reported. In contrast, rates in low-income countries vary from 5.7 to 19.2% [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. The rate varies considerably from country to country according to infection control and prevention measures [ 28 ].…”