CDC underestimates hospital infections

The Government Accountability Office report cited in the article "Report calls for better hospital standards" (April 17) found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's data on hospital infections are unreliable.

I testified at the congressional hearing about this report and provided the evidence in support of that finding.

The CDC claims that 1.7 million people contract infections in hospitals each year. The real number is probably several times that number.

In 2007, the largest survey of hospitals in the U.S., conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that 2.4 percent of U.S. hospital patients got methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in the hospital.

That's 880,000 patients a year sickened by one type of bacteria. So just imagine the number of infections caused by the numerous other deadly bacteria found in hospitals.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the CDC, testified to Congress in November that MRSA infections account for only 8 percent of total hospital infections.

The conclusion is obvious: Many millions of patients are affected by hospital infections each year.

(source)