Infections associated with care and antibiotic prescription

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) represent a major public health problem worldwide. The objectives of our work were to estimate the prevalence of HAIs as well as the frequency of antibiotic use at the Charles Nicolle Hospital (HCN) in Tunis.This was a cross-sectional study at the HCN (October-December 2018). All patients present in the departments for more than 48 hours were included. Only active HAIs confirmed clinically and/or microbiologically were retained.In total 318 patients were included with an average age of adult patients (≥18 years) of 52.3 years. The prevalence of HAI was 13.1% (95% CI: 9.3%-16.9%). The most common sites of infection were urinary tract infections and pneumonia. More than one in three patients (35.4%) were on antibiotics on the day of the survey more than half of whom (57.4) were on two or more molecules.The prevalence of HAIs and antibiotic prescription was high. A committee for the prevention of these infections as well as the establishment of an Antibiotic-stewardship program constitute the fundamental measures for effective control.