Poor nations face ‘greater hospital infection burden’

10.12.2010 [14:22]
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Baku, December 10 (AZERTAC). The fight against malaria and TB in the developing world should not obscure the problems poor countries face with hospital infections, experts say.

A team led by World Health Organization researchers found poorer countries had much higher infection rates than the developed world.

They reviewed 220 previous studies, finding infection rates were three times higher than in the US.

But they said the issue was going largely unnoticed, the Lancet reported.

The team, which also included Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the former chief medical officer for England, looked at data going back to 1995 on a range of healthcare-associated bugs, including urinary tract, bloodstream and surgical site infections as well as hospital-acquired pneumonia.

Researchers found the infection rate in developing countries was 15.5 per 100 patients. In Europe it is 7.1 and in the US, 4.5.

The difference in intensive care infections was even greater. In developing countries, infection rates were 47.9 per 1,000 patient-days, compared to 13.6 in the US.

Poor nations face ‘greater hospital infection burden’

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