Point prevalence survey for healthcare-associated infections within Canadian adult acute-care hospitals

A survey of adult patients 19 years of age and older was conducted in February 2002 in hospitals across Canada to estimate the prevalence of health care-associated infections (HAls). A total of 5750 adults were surveyed; 601 of these had 667 HAls, giving a prevalence of 10.5% infected patients and 11.6% HAls. Urinary tract infections (UTI) were the most frequent HAI, shown by 194 (3.4%) of the patients surveyed. Pneumonia was found in 175 (3.0%) of the patients, surgical site infections (SSI) in 146 (2.5%), bloodstream infections (BSI) in 93 (1.6%) and Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) in 59 (1%). In this first national point prevalence study in Canada, the prevalence of HAI was found to be similar to that reported by other industrialized countries. (C) 2007 The Hospital Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. AU rights reserved.