Prevalence of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in Kyiv acute care hospitals, Ukraine

• Published in: The Journal of hospital infection 2019-03
• Main Authors: Salmanov, A, Vozianov, S, Kryzhevsky, V, Litus, O, Drozdova, A, Vlasenko, I
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1532-2939

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are one of the commonest adverse events in patient care and account for substantial morbidity and mortality. To obtain the first estimates of the current prevalence of HAIs and antimicrobial resistance in acute care hospitals in Kyiv, Ukraine. Prospective surveillance was conducted from January 2014 to December 2016 in five Kyiv acute care hospitals. Definitions of HAIs were adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network. Among 53,884 patients, 3,753 (7%) HAIs were observed. The most frequently reported HAI types were respiratory tract infections (pneumonia 19.4%; lower respiratory tract 4.1%), surgical site infections (19.6%), urinary tract infections (17.5%) and bloodstream infections (10.6%). Death during hospitalization was reported in 7.2% HAI cases. The microorganisms most frequently isolated from HAIs were Escherichia coli (15.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (14.8%), Enterococcus spp. (10.2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8.9%) and Klebsiella spp. (8.9%). Meticillin resistance was reported in 28.2% of S. aureus. 14.2% of enterococci were vancomycin-resistant. 35.1% of all Enterobacteriaceae were resistant to third-generation cephalosporins, with the highest resistance rates in K. pneumoniae (53.8%) and E. coli (32.1%). Infection control priorities in hospitals should include preventing surgical site infections, pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and urinary tract infections. These results may help to delineate the requirements for infection prevention and control in acute care hospitals.