Hospitals today face an acute crisis: the spread of infection among patients
In high-income countries, 5% to 10% of hospitalized patients — including 30% of patients in intensive care units contract an infection during their stay. Each year, in Europe and the United States, hospital pathogens infect nearly 6 million patients and are responsible for 140,000 deaths.
On any given day, more than 1.4 million hospitalized patients around the world and 80,000 in Europe are estimated to have at least one healthcare associated infection; compared to other patients, they may be 80% more likely to die within 90 days. In developing countries, as the World Health Organization (WHO) notes, the childhood death rate from hospital acquired infections equates to “a plane crashing every hour.”
“We’ve reached the point where patients are dying of infections in hospitals that we have no antibiotics to treat,” cautions Arjun Srinivasan, M.D., associate director for healthcare associated prevention programs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. For more information click here