Healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections acquired by patients during their stay in a hospital or another healthcare setting. Although some of these infections can be treated easily, others may more seriously affect a patient’s health, increasing their stay in the hospital and hospital costs, and causing considerable distress to these patients. 

The most frequently reported types of HAIs are respiratory tract infections, surgical site infections, urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections and gastro-intestinal infections, with Clostridioides difficile infections representing almost half of the gastro-intestinal infections.