Hospital-acquired infections associated with antimicrobial resistance have remained high compared to prepandemic levels, Medscape reported June 10.
The study was presented by Christina Yek, MD, from the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress. The study used PINC-AI data from 120 hospitals for prepandemic (January 2018 to December 2019), during the pandemic (March 2020 to February 2022), and post pandemic (March 2022 to December 2022). Researchers focused on six pathogens: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB), and carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (CRPA).
Here are five things to know:
- Levels of gram-negative, carbapenem-resistant organisms including Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacterales, rose more then 50% during the pandemic and remained 35% higher than prepandemic levels in 2022.
- The greatest increases in hospital-acquired infections were CRAB (+151.1%), CRE (+62.2%) and CRPA (+54.2%).
- In general, antimicrobial resistant infections remain 13% higher post pandemic compared to prepandemic levels.
- Hospitals with high volumes, higher bed capacity or surges of severely ill COVID-19 patients had the greatest increase of hospital-acquired infections.
- Patients in a hospital with a bed capacity of 100-199 were 1.25 times more likely to acquire an infection compared to hospitals with under 100 beds. And patients at hospitals with more than 500 beds were 2.44 times as likely to be infected.