Healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals

Healthcare-associated infections are infections acquired by patients during their stay in a hospital or another healthcare setting. Although some of these infections can be treated easily, others may more seriously affect a patient’s health, increasing their stay in the hospital and hospital costs, and causing considerable distress to these patients. 

The most frequently reported types of healthcare-associated infections are respiratory tract infections, surgical site infections, urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections and gastro-intestinal infections, with Clostridium difficile infections representing almost half of the gastro-intestinal infections.