Healthcare-Associated Infection Epidemiology and Control

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) represent a major challenge to patient safety and public health worldwide. These infections occur in patients receiving care in hospitals, long-term care facilities and other healthcare settings, often arising from invasive procedures, indwelling devices or exposure to antimicrobial-resistant organisms. Epidemiological surveillance has revealed that HAIs account for substantial morbidity, prolonged hospital stays and increased healthcare costs. Key drivers include antibiotic overuse, lapses in hand hygiene, suboptimal environmental cleaning and transmission from asymptomatic carriers. Control strategies encompass rigorous hand hygiene, aseptic technique, antimicrobial stewardship, environmental disinfection and targeted isolation of colonised or infected patients. Implementation of multimodal IPC (infection prevention and control) programmes, underpinned by staff education, leadership support and continuous outcome monitoring, has demonstrably reduced HAI rates. Digital surveillance systems and real-time data analytics are increasingly deployed to detect outbreaks early and guide resource allocation. Globally, tailored IPC measures and robust national surveillance frameworks remain essential to contain emerging resistant pathogens and safeguard patient outcomes.

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Healthcare-Associated Infection Epidemiology and Control publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in healthcare-associated infection epidemiology and control across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Healthcare-associated infection (HAI): Infection occurring during the provision of healthcare, not present or incubating at admission.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR): The ability of microorganisms to survive exposure to drugs designed to inhibit or kill them.

Point prevalence survey (PPS): Cross-sectional study assessing the proportion of patients with HAIs at a specific time.

Multimodal strategy: An approach combining multiple interventions—education, monitoring, system changes—to prevent infections.

Infection Prevention and Control Assessment Framework (IPCAF): A WHO tool to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of IPC programmes in healthcare facilities.

References

1. Global incidence in hospital-associated infections resistant to antibiotics: An analysis of point prevalence surveys from 99 countries. PLOS Medicine (2023).
2. Development of a knowledge-based healthcare-associated infections surveillance system in China. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2023).
3. Level of implementation of multimodal strategies for infection prevention and control interventions and prevalence of healthcare-associated infections in Northern Italy. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control (2024).