BBC News Health
Poor nations face 'greater hospital infection burden'
Blood infection Hospital infections were higher in poorer countries
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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.
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"Start Quote
Health-care-associated infections in developing countries are a serious
issue that is scarcely addressed in the scientific literature"
End Quote Dr Victor Rosentha International Nosocomical Infection Control
Consortium
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.
Simple measures
The researchers said simple, low cost measures such as better hand hygiene,
surveillance and staff education could make a big difference.
Professor Didier Pittet, one of the lead researchers, said: "There can be a
misconception that healthcare-associated infections are not often found in
developing countries, simply because their healthcare systems are blitzed with
other issues that high-income countries have dealt with or controlled long ago."
Dr Victor Rosenthal, of the International Nosocomical Infection Control
Consortium, which was set up to tackle hospital infections globally, welcomed
the research, saying: "Health-care-associated infections in developing
countries are a serious issue that is scarcely addressed in the scientific
literature."
He added it was likely the higher infection rates were leading to deaths,
longer hospital stays and extra costs and called on steps to be taken to tackle
the problems.
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