2023-05-26 14:54:08
THE ESSENTIAL
- Hospital-acquired infections have increased since 2017.
- Covid infections are responsible for half of the observed increase.
- The widespread use of antibiotics to treat patients raises fears of an increase in antibiotic resistance.
According to Public Health France (SPF), more and more patients are affected by an infection caught in hospital.
Nosocomial infections: an increase of almost 15% in France in 5 years
Indeed, following stagnating from 2012 to 2017 and falling steadily between 2001 and 2012, the proportion of infected patients increased between 2017 and 2022 (+ 14.7%), notes Public Health France (SPF) in a press release published this Friday .
According to the survey by the health authority carried out every five years and conducted between May 15 and June 30, 2022 among 1,155 health establishments (i.e. more than 150,000 patients), nosocomial infections are still more observed in resuscitation services.
They concern one in four infected people, because patients are more vulnerable to them and exposed to invasive devices (catheter, respiratory assistance, urinary catheter), explains Public Health France.
Nosocomial diseases kill
Urinary tract infections linked to surgery, pneumonia, bacteraemia (presence of bacteria in the blood) remain the main manifestations of the scourge, responsible for approximately 4,000 deaths per year.
Four bacteria, including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, are involved in nearly one in two cases of hospital-acquired infections, almost as in 2017.
But faced with the hospital tensions recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic, health professionals are rather optimistic: “It is a very broad photograph which is not so bad in the wake of the terrible Covid crisis. We expected worse“, estimated Anne Berger-Carbonne, head of the healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance unit at SPF.
In effect, “the proportion of infected patients is higher than five years ago, but nosocomial Covid infections account for half of the increase”explained the expert to AFP.
Infection in the hospital: towards an acceleration of antibiotic resistance?
The survey also highlights a worrying issue for health authorities: faced with increasing infections, professionals are resorting more to antibiotics.
Thus, approximately one in six hospitalized patients receives antibiotic treatment, a proportion up 7.5% compared to 2017.
However, their use goes hand in hand with the emergence of resistant strains of bacteria, which threaten their effectiveness. “It’s not a very good sign“, points out Anne Berger-Carbonne. Antibiotic resistance is, in fact, considered a “menace” by global health authorities.
1685121527
#hospitalized #patients #affected