So, hospital acquired infections or health care associated infections (HAI) are the contaminations that patients catch while being treated for other disease conditions in a hospital or other health care facility. These infections can be spread by various viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens. The most common types of hospital acquired infections are- bloodstream infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, urinary tract infection and surgical site infection [12, 13]. …show more content…
The magnitude of this problem is so large that on any given day, about 1 in every 25 hospital patients develops at least one infection related to hospital care. In 2011, nearly 722,000 HAI cases were reported in US acute care hospitals. Additionally, about 75,000 inpatients died with HAIs during their hospital stay [14]. According to the US office of DPHP, these infections cost the US health care system billions of dollars annually [15].
Nevertheless, the HHS has recognized the reduction of HAIs as an Agency Priority Goal for the Department and is committed to reducing the national rate of HAIs [15]. As a result, with growing consensus, a noteworthy reduction has been seen in HAIs on the national level in 2013