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Have you ever been admitted to the hospital for surgery or illness? Have you ever caught an infection unrelated to your surgery or illness? If so, you have been the victim of a nosocomial infection also known as hospital-acquired infections.
C. difficile, MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), are well known, but there are many others.
Do you know that you have more chances to die from a nosocomial infection than from a car accident?
Every year in Quebec, 90 000 people are afflicted by these infections and, of that number, 4000 die immediately.
A minimum of 50% of these infections could be avoided by better prevention and control measures such as strict hand hygiene.
Nosocomial infections are also very costly to the health system. On average they cost 180 millions dollars yearly.
By joining ADVIN you contribute to the promotion of safe care and quality hospitals.
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SARM’s Constitute a Serious Worldwide Threat. |
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Written by Christine Besson
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Sunday, 16 September 2007 |
SARM: methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.
In the United States, the SARM infection rate has shot up from two percent in 1970 to a staggering sixty-six percent in 2007.
In the United States, the results of a study conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (June 2007) showed that five percent of patients in 1,237 long-term care hospitals nationwide were infected by a SARM. This constitutes 30,000 cases on a daily basis and 1.2 million annually.
According to the Society for Hospital Epidemiology in America (SHEA), fifty percent of health care establishments failed to maintain normal standards of hygiene. Consequently, the SARM infection rate has shot up from two percent in 1970 to a staggering sixty-six percent in 2007.
In Europe, a study carried out by the European Anti-microbial Resistance Surveillance Systems (EARSS) in 2005 revealed similar results.
The SARM infection rate has been steadily increasing over the past six years, and has now reached epidemic proportions in most European countries. The only exceptions are France and Slovenia where long-term infection control measures were implemented. Consequently, SARM infection rates were reduced by 35% in France and 40% in Slovenia.
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