Why is preventing infections important

Other steps health care workers can take include Covering coughs and sneezes Staying up to date with vaccinations Using gloves, masks and protective clothing Making tissues and hand cleaners available Following hospital guidelines when dealing with blood or contaminated items.

Start Here. Prevention and Risk Factors. Related Issues. Videos and Tutorials. Statistics and Research. A worker in Kenya teaches children how to wash their hands correctly. In early , a simple online hand-washing demonstration went viral. The hands then went through all the motions of correct hand washing and, at the end, the gloves were fully coated with paint.

This message, and others like it, have helped to make a golden year for infection-prevention awareness. During the COVID pandemic, public-health officials have reached the masses with their messages about how to avoid infection.

Now, having seen how various nations have dutifully scrubbed, sanitized and distanced their way to try to bring down the number of coronavirus cases, researchers and public-health specialists are keen to keep the momentum going for another reason: to stall the spread of infections that are becoming resistant to antimicrobial drugs.

Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to human life that exceeds that posed by COVID by orders of magnitude. Unless practices change, by , an estimated 10 million people will be dying every year as a result of resistant bacteria 1. Antibiotics are common treatments for illnesses — whether or not they are caused by bacteria.

And a systematic review of reports published between and on non-prescription use of antimicrobials showed that the drugs were frequently used to treat non-bacterial diseases 3. Unsurprisingly, it also found that resistant bacteria were common in communities with high levels of non-prescription use.

The resistant bacteria then spread from person to person through surfaces such as mobile phones. Part of Nature Outlook: Antimicrobial resistance.

Preventing infection is an important facet of nearly all programmes designed to promote effective use of antibiotics, an area known as antimicrobial stewardship. According to the World Health Organization WHO , global efforts to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics must include strategies for preventing any infection that might be treated with the drugs, whether justifiably or not.

Because infections are difficult to diagnose and treat quickly, Chopra says that the biggest impact will come from preventing infections in the community, not just in hospitals. Christina Vandenbroucke-Grauls, a medical microbiologist at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, chairs a group that monitors hospital outbreaks of resistant bacteria in the Netherlands. Over the course of the COVID pandemic, such infections have almost disappeared in the country, she says. Infection-control messages have been effective outside hospital settings, too.

Many countries have seen a fall in the number of non-COVID infections, such as seasonal influenza. In Australia, for instance, fewer people have died from flu this year compared with Global Healthcare Safety. Additional Resources. Healthcare-associated Infections and National Data. Multidrug-Resistant Organisms and Antibiotic Resistance. Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website. Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.

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Skip to main content. Home Infections. Preventing healthcare associated infection HAI. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet.

On this page. What are healthcare associated infections? Susceptibility to healthcare associated infection Risk factors for acquiring an HAI Types of healthcare associated infection Preventing healthcare associated infections During your hospital stay What to expect if you get an infection in hospital What to do if you are unhappy with your healthcare Where to get help.

HAIs occur at a cost to the patient and the community because they cause: illness to the patient a longer stay in hospital a longer recovery time costs associated with a longer stay in hospital and longer recovery time. Susceptibility to healthcare associated infection All people admitted to hospital are at some risk of contracting an HAI.

Some people are more vulnerable than others, including: premature babies very sick children elderly people frail people people with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes people with low immunity — such as people with diseases that compromise their immune system or people who are being treated with chemotherapy or steroids. Types of healthcare associated infection The most common types of infection acquired in hospitals are: bloodstream infection urinary tract infection UTI wound infection pneumonia lung infection.

Preventing healthcare associated infections Healthcare workers use various well established procedures to help prevent infections, including: infection control procedures and policies correct and frequent hand hygiene measures by all staff and patients keeping the healthcare environment and equipment clean complying with standard sterile techniques when performing surgery, caring for wounds or inserting and caring for medical devices such as intravenous cannulas and urinary catheters using antibiotics appropriately to prevent and treat infections.

Before admission to hospital If you are going to hospital, there are things you can do before admission and in hospital that will help reduce the chance of you getting an infection.

Steps to follow before you go to hospital include: stop smoking — smoking can interfere with healing processes.