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A growing concern for hospital patients worldwide is the chance of receiving a nosocomial infection. According to the text Microbiology: An Introduction, a nosocomial infection is defined as an infection “that does not show any evidence of being present or incubating at the time of admission to a hospital; it is acquired as a result of a hospital stay” (Tortora, Funke, and Case, 420). Common nosocomial infections include; surgical wound infections, urinary tract infections (UTI), pneumonia, nosocomial diarrhea, and septicemia, while several causative agents for infections are coagulase-negative staphylococci, enterococci, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Despite the fact that modern sterilization techniques as well as disposable materials are used in hospitals, nosocomial infections are a continuous problem. Studies show that roughly 5% to 15% of patients acquire a nosocomial infection during their stay at hospitals, which is nearly 2 million per year. Though these infections are curable, it is estimated that nearly 90,000 patients die from nosocomial infections. There are numerous factors that allows a patient to acquire a nosocomial infection, several of these being; microorganisms in the hospital environment, the weakness of the patient (compromised host), as well as the chain of transmission in the hospital (Tortora et al, 420). Because patients are becoming more and more resistant to the antibiotics used to treat bacteria causing nosocomial infections, such as Staphylococcus aureus, the infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat. A host who is compromised, “one whose resistance to infection is impaired by disease, therapy, or burns,” makes it much easier for pathogens to enter the body than it would a healthy individual.
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