Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections that patients can get while receiving treatment for medical or surgical conditions. No matter where you are—in a hospital, a long-term care facility, outpatient surgery center, dialysis center, doctor’s office, or elsewhere—you are at risk for infections. These kinds of infections are often preventable.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 31 hospitalized patients will get an infection as a result of the care they receive, costing an estimated $28.4 to $45 billion each year. An estimated 75,000 patients will die each year. On a global level, in 2022 the World Health Organization released its first-ever report on infection prevention and control showing gaps between HAI rates in high, middle, and low-income countries.
The most common types of infections are:
Catheter-associated urinary tract infection
An infection in your bladder or kidney, from a urinary catheter.
Surgical site infection
An infection after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place.
Bloodstream infection
An infection of your blood by way of a catheter or tube placed in your vein.
Pneumonia
An infection of the lungs.
Clostridium difficile
A germ that can cause diarrhea usually occurring in patients taking antibiotics.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
A germ that can cause serious infections, such as skin or wound infections.
Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus
A germ that is resistant to many antibiotics, including vancomycin.