Deutsche Welle: Why hospital infections are a bigger threat than HIV, influenza, and tuberculosis
“You would think it was the other way around. But six health care-associated infections are a bigger burden on hospitals than influenza, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis together. The big six are pneumonia, urinary tract and surgical site infections, Clostridium difficile (CDI, which results in antibiotic-associated diarrhea), neonatal sepsis, and primary bloodstream infections. And they are all things you can contract while being treated for other things in hospital. That’s the conclusion of a study [published] on Tuesday in PLOS Medicine…” (Breitenbach, 10/18).