The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has discovered that there are still too many antibiotic-resistant superbugs that can be acquired from being in the hospital. Although these medical facilities are helping caregivers fight against these bacteria, it is still possible that patients got infected in the same place they're being treated, federal health officials say.
According to medicaldaily.com, at least one in every 25 patients developed the infection during their stay at the hospital, or that other hospital-acquired infections came from antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Dr. Tom Frieden, CDC director described the situation as "chilling" and "deeply concerning." Freiden explained that at some point, every single individual will become a patient and that antibiotic-resistant infections have the potential to affect many of people. "In fact, every year in the United States, about two million people get sick with a super bug infection, while 23,000 people die from these illnesses," he added.
Freiden also said that doctors are the number one weapon to stop these bacteria. In fact, Dr. Clifford Mcdonald, who is the associate director for science of the division of healthcare quality promotion at the CDC said, "We are seeing progress in several areas, but more needs to be done."
Oregonlive.com reported that Dr. Mcdonald also revealed that there are more than 700,000 who get infected with these superbugs and 75,000 of them die from the infection every year. "In some hospitals, more than one in four infections are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria," he added.
Although there may be many places in the hospital to acquire the said bacteria, these 4 types of infection are normally involved in it. C. difficile, which may not be a drug resistant bacteria but is known to be a deadly type of diarrhea, urinary tract infection (UTI), surgical site infections, and infections in the blood stream caused by central lines, and those tubes used to feed medicines directly into a larger vein.
Although CDC is giving the doctors full responsibility to make sure their patients do not acquire the said infections, patients also have roles to fill in making sure they stay safe during their hospital stay. This includes washing hands after using the bathroom and before meals, he said.
