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Schweizer ML. Barrier Precautions, Patient Isolation, and Routine Surveillance for Prevention of Health Care-Associated Infections: Brief Update Review. Washington, DC: AHRQ; 2013 Mar 3. 11 p. Report No.: 211.
Healthcare-associated infections are linked to high morbidity, mortality, and costs worldwide. In 2002, an estimated 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections were seen in U.S. hospitals, resulting in approximately 99,000 deaths. In 2005, 18,650 patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) died, more than the number of Americans who died from HIV/AIDS in that same year. In 2007, Clostridium difficile was ranked among the 20 leading causes of mortality among Americans over 65 years of age. Despite decades of infection control interventions, health care-associated infections continue to be a major burden on U.S. hospitals. Currently, there is a rising wave of new emergent healthcare-associated infections, including multi-drug resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Additionally, reports of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus have appeared sporadically across the Nation. 5-7 No effective antibiotics are available for some strains of these pathogens, and few new antibiotics are in the developmental pipeline. For example, since 2007, only two new antibiotics have been developed. Thus, prevention, not treatment, is the most sustainable strategy to control health care-associated infections.
