The Unknown Killer: Healthcare-Associated Infections

July 7, 2011

Every year, Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) — infections picked up while receiving care for something else — kill more people in the United States than breast and prostate cancer combined. They add billions to the ever-escalating cost of healthcare and, worse, can be prevented. The infographic below gathers some of the sobering statistics.

 


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  • Kenneth Opiela

    Good Story Line but believe topic should be investigated further. With 69% being on goverment insurance this could also imply “poor or older” groups are more likely to have this issue. Maybe weak imune system could also be major contributor.

  • virginia parrish

    I am a GE retiree so I have good insurance .My daughter who has severe Multible Tissue Disease & Osteopenia is on medicaid. She has no job & no other income. Medicaid approved 30 visits to Wayne Memorial Hospital for therapy on her hands which her Dr. determined she needed. After 10 visits the therapist determined that that there was no improvement & stopped her treatment saying Medicaid would not pay for treatment unless it was working. After telling her Goldsboro Orthopedics had helped her tremendously last year but it took more than 10 treatments to start working she stated maybe I should take her back there. She mentioned a couple times she was on medicaid. & I think that is why she stopped treatment. After sitting in Drs office’s several hrs until all or almost every person in there was seen even people that come in after we did, makes me think think some people in the health care field does not treat people on medicaid fairly.

  • DT

    Lets not forget the stress induced from the increased costs and dwindling coverage of the working mans healthplan… I guess scaring people into going to going to the DR is a good method to cut costs even more !!!!

  • Vernon Smith

    My father developed a case of “head” shingles that the doctor said was caused by trauma as a result of knee surgery. Ten years later he is still being treated for this same case of “head” shingles that caused him to be temporarily paralyzed due to swelling around the brain stem. Also, my wife developed a staph infection from a surgery she had. If you truly want to get sick, just go to a hospital you’ll get something.

  • Omayra Padilla De Jesus

    Wow. These statistics are scary and veyr eye opening. My question is, what are the measures that we the patient and the hospital can take to realistically and currently minimize the chances of infection?

  • Isaac A. Hallegua

    The figures quoted for HAI are disturbing. Maybe, hostipal adminstrators should investigate the hygene factors of hospitals where HAI is excessive and ensure every hospital has effective sanatizing procedures enforced and that patients and visitors are provided with and encouraged to use sanatizing gels on entering and leaving hospitals.

  • john

    My partner is still dealing with the consequences of a HAI three years after getting the problem.

    I remember going to see my grandmother in hospital (in the UK) when I was very small and being confronted with a very stern matron who wouldn’t let anyone on the ward without washing their hands. Hospitals used to have brass door handles as the copper killed bacteria and there was never any carpet on the floors. The best way to deal with any problem is to eliminate the both the root cause and anything that could worsen the scale of the problem.

  • Lil Higgins

    I want to see these statistics for other countries also. I remember seeing something along these lines that stated Germany then Sweeden had the safest hospitals. The US was ranked about 6th. More needs to be done about transmitting diseases and infections from one person to another. The hand sanitizer at each door is a great idea, but how to enforce use? The US Medical profession needs to work on this issue.