One in every eighteen European patients catches infections while in hospitals, especially in intensive care, a new European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) report reveals.
Hygiene in hospitals has been a major concern for many patients with not even top hospitals being completely germ free. According to a new European Centre for Diseases Prevention and Control (ECDC) report, one in every eighteen European patients catches infections while in hospital. As a result, almost 3.2 million Europeans suffer from at least one hospital-acquired infection, annually.
"Healthcare-associated infections pose a major public health problem and a threat to European patients," said Marc Sprenger, director of the Stockholm-based ECDC.
A similar report released by the ECDC last year warned that doctors are being forced to turn to last-ditch antibiotics due to growing drug-resistant superbug infections in Europe, most of which are acquired in hospitals.
The report was a result of a recent survey conducted on 1,000 hospitals in 30 European countries. Researchers found that most hospital-acquired infections were among patients admitted to intensive care units. The study revealed that 19.5 percent of patients acquired at least one infection from hospitals, the most common being respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and infections of the bloodstream.
Most of the infections are reportedly caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae and E. coli bacteria. Both bacteria have the ability to build resistance to some of the most powerful antibodies. Surgical site infections and Urinary tract infections were also common among the 15,000 healthcare-associated infections reported in the survey. 40 percent of the infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were found to build resistance to methicillin and are known as MRSA infections.
Around 53 million people are affected by MRSA annually across the globe and cost approximately more than $20 billion a year to treat. In the United States 20,000 people die from this infection annually and the numbers are similar for Europe.
Sprenger noted that many of these infections can be eliminated by implementing well thought-out, sustained and multi-pronged prevention and control programs.
"Such programs, as well as prudent use of antibiotics, will help all actors involved to protect the patients of European hospitals," he said in a statement.
