Healthcare Associated Infection
Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) are infections that are acquired in hospitals or as a result of healthcare interventions. Common HCAIs include Urinary tract infections, Surgical incision site infections, bloodstream infections (BSI), Clostridium difficile (C Diff) and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). Healthcare associated infections have major public health impact due to high incidence and associated excess mortality and costs. In the European Union the yearly number of HAIs can be estimated at 4,544,100, with approximately 37,000 deaths as direct consequence and 16 million extra days of hospital stay per year.
A number of academic staff in the Section, including Alison Holmes, Jon Friedland and Shiranee Sriskandan are involved in research in this area, as members of the Centre for Infection Prevention and Management, a UKCRC funded initatitive looking to integrate infection prevention in to healthcare delivery. The Centre, which is a collboration between Imperial College, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and the Health Protection Agency is working to tackle the problem of HCAI in a multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted way. The Centre's work-streams therefore span health surveillance, diagnostics, education and innovation adoption and behaviour change.
