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Study: Hospital-associated infections are growing problem in developing nations

Quality Improvement Monitor, March 24, 2005

Rates of neonatal infections in hospital-born babies are nearly 20 times higher in developing countries than in industrialized countries, according to a study in this week's The Lancet.

Neonatal deaths account for more than one-third of the global burden of child mortality. Data suggest that unhygienic practices in labor and delivery put babies in the developing world at great risk of infections and death soon after birth.

Anita Zaidi of Aga Khan University in Pakistan and her colleagues reviewed data from developing countries on rates of neonatal infections among hospital-born babies. They found that bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus are the major causes of neonatal infections and deaths in hospital settings.

Unhygienic conditions prevailing in hospitals of developing countries mean that babies born in such hospitals may be facing the same or even higher risk of infection as babies born at home by untrained attendants, the authors said.

The main source of spread of infection for Staphylococcus aureusis rests in the hands of healthcare providers, according to the study. The authors also found that antimicrobial resistance in nurseries in developing countries has reached alarming levels: an estimated 70% of pathogens isolated from bloodstream infections in babies in hospital nurseries may not be treatable by the ampicillin and gentamicin, which the World Health Organization recommends for treatment.

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