Number of Health Care-Acquired Infections Decrease

Some good news for a change regarding health care acquired-infections (HAIs)—a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the incidences of three common HAIs were down in 2018.

Acute-care hospitals reported the number of C. difficile infections were down by 12% since last year, central line-associated bloodstream infections were down by 9%, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections were down by 8%. Most U.S. states (44) improved their performance for at least three HAIs between 2017 and 2018.

However, this decrease did not apply to all HAIs. There were no changes reported in the number of cases of ventilator-associated infections, surgical site infections, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) between 2017 and 2018.