Portugal is the third country in the EU with the highest prevalence of hospital infections | Health

Portugal is the third country in the European Union with the highest prevalence of hospital infections, after Cyprus and Greece, in the third survey of point prevalence of infections associated with healthcare and the use of antimicrobials, which was coordinated by the European Center of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in 2022-2023, the results of which were released this Monday.

In this latest survey (which is carried out every five years), 11.6% of patients hospitalized in Portugal had a healthcare-associated infection, almost double the average (6.3%) of European Union countries. (EU) and the European Economic Area included in this type of photography taken in more than 1300 hospitals. Only Cyprus (13.8%) and Greece (12.1%) had a higher prevalence than Portugal, according to the ECDC report.

“We had achieved a decrease from the first to the second survey and now we have increased it again, which is bad. But what justifies this rise? First, the rules are not exactly the same, since in the latter there was a new disease, Covid-19. On the other hand, there was a methodological change – if previously they only counted infections acquired in the hospital, now they counted infections associated with all healthcare”, explains José Artur Paiva, who until February this year directed the Prevention and Control Program of Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance from the Directorate-General for Health.

“If the rules had been the same, the prevalence of infections would have remained the same, which is also not good, because what we want is to reduce”, assumes the doctor, who remembers that, from the first (2011/2012) to the According to a survey (2016/2017), Portugal had managed to lower the prevalence of hospital infections and abandon first place on the list. “We continue to be in a situation that needs to be improved. We continue to have a problem”, emphasizes José Artur Paiva, noting that a portion of these infections – around a third – “are already difficult to treat due to antimicrobial resistance”.

But there is one thing that still puts Portugal in a worse position. In estimates of the incidence (new cases) of infections associated with healthcare, Portugal comes first, with ECDC calculating that there will be more than 94 thousand patients contracting a hospital infection each year, an incidence of 8.9% in the latest survey, according to the report.

The problem of hospital infections affects millions of people in Europe. “Year after year, around 4.3 million patients admitted to hospitals in countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection” during their hospitalization, specifies the ECDC, remembering that, in the latter survey, covid-19 “contributed significantly to the increase in the burden” of this problem.

Respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia and healthcare-associated Covid-19, accounted for nearly a third of the total, followed by urinary tract, bloodstream and gastrointestinal infections.

Emphasizing that “healthcare-associated infections represent a significant challenge to patient safety in hospitals across Europe”, ECDC director Andrea Ammon argued that the data now known “underlines the urgent need for further action to mitigate this threat.”

A problem that can be alleviated. Specifying that one in every three microorganisms detected were antibiotic-resistant bacteria, “thus limiting the treatment options for infected patients”, the ECDC recalls that “at least 20%” of these infections are preventable “through sustained and multifaceted.”