• Hospitals in India have a high burden of infections in their ICUs and wards, many of which are resistant to antibiotic treatment, according to the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP)-India Working Group and the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP). The 2011 GARP report, Situation Analysis: Antibiotic Use and Resistance in India also states that a large proportion of these hospital acquired infections (HAI) are preventable with increased infection control measures.

• In Indian ICUs, the rate of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), a dangerous hospital infection, is five times the rate in the rest of the world. Rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Indian ICUs are also high, with one study finding over 80 per cent of S aureus samples testing positive for resistance to methicillin and closely related antibiotics.

• GARP research estimates that of the approximately 190,000 neonatal deaths in India each year due to sepsis - a bacterial infection that overwhelms the bloodstream -, over 30 per cent are attributable to antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistant hospital infections can be especially deadly because antibiotics are used intensely in hospitals compared with the community, and frequent use drives the development of highly resistant bacteria.

• A prospective study of 71 burn patients at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh found that up to 59 patients (83 per cent) had hospital-acquired infections: 35 per cent of pathogens isolated from wounds and blood were S. aureus, 24 per cent were P aeruginosa, and 16 per cent were ß-haemolytic streptococci.

www.careonmedical.com

• Another six-month study conducted in 2001 of the intensive care units (ICUs) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), found that 140 of 1,253 patients (11 percent) had 152 hospital-acquired infections, where P aeruginosa made up 21 per cent of isolates, 23 per cent were S aureus, 16 per cent Klebsiella spp., 15 per cent Acinetobacter baumannii and eight per cent Escherichia coli. Further, a study of 493 patients in a tertiary teaching hospital in Goa also found that 103 people (21 percent) developed 169 infections.

• "A large proportion of these hospital infections are easily preventable with increased hospital infection control, including stepping up hygiene practices, such as frequent hand-washing," says Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, Director of CDDEP and Vice President for Research and Policy at the Public Health Foundation of India.

• In response to the growing burden of HAIs in India, the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) is issuing several key recommendations that aim at reducing the prevalence of HAIs, including increased hand-washing, use of isolation rooms for infected patients, increased availability and uptake of diagnostic tests, reminders to limit catheter use, and use of gloves and gowns. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Task Force also recommends that all hospitals create an infection control plan, committee and team.

• "Surveillance of antibiotic resistance, combined with tracking physician prescribing patterns, can be the foundation of successful infection control programs in hospitals. But surveillance is a challenge in many places, where microbiology laboratories and trained staff may be unavailable," says Dr Laxminarayan. Infection control committees may also be met with uncooperative hospital staff and administrators. "The greatest challenge is to empower infection control committees and make hospital staff aware of their activities and recommendations," Dr Laxminarayan adds.