Device-associated Nosocomial Infection Rates

Standards for routine surveillance of nosocomial infections have been a fixture in U.S. hospitals since the role of surveillance in reducing rates of infection among hospitalized patients was demonstrated in the Study on the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control (SENIC) project.1 Similar standards for infection control surveillance have been adopted in other developed countries.2 Unfortunately, the implementation of nosocomial infection surveillance programs has not gained widespread acceptance in many developing countries, despite a growing body of literature suggesting that nosocomial infections are an increasingly important cause of patient morbidity and mortality in these countries.3-10 Surveillance data regarding nosocomial infections in hospitals in developing countries are limited. This is especially true in Argentina, where there is no national program for monitoring hospital-acquired infections. As a result, we undertook a 1-year prospective surveillance study of selected nosocomial infections in six intensive care units (ICUs) in three Buenos Aires hospitals of different sizes.