Key finding

2012 National Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Under the auspices of the Healthcare-Associated Infections Alert, Investigation, and Surveillance Network ("RAISIN"), a partnership between the InVS and the CClin, a national prevalence survey (ENP) was conducted between May and June 2012 in 1,938 healthcare facilities representing 90.6% of hospital beds in France. Its objectives were to measure the number of infected patients, to classify these infections by type of facility, department, site of infection, and causative microorganism, and to describe the prescribed antimicrobial treatments. In 2012, more than 50% of hospitalized patients in France were over 65 years of age and had an increased risk of infectious complications compared to the general population due to their age, underlying health conditions, as well as the medical procedures they had undergone or the invasive devices they were using (29% had catheters). The ENP shows that 15,180 patients had one or more active NI on the day of the survey, representing a prevalence of infected patients of 5.1%. Approximately 3 out of 4 infections were acquired within the facility conducting the survey, with 1 in 4 infections being imported from another facility. The three microorganisms most frequently responsible for a NI were E. coli (17.6% of strains resistant to third-generation cephalosporins), Staphylococcus aureus (38.1% of strains resistant to methicillin), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The most severely ill patients were hospitalized in cancer treatment centers or intensive care units, while the least severely ill patients were in psychiatric or obstetric wards. This largely explains the variation in the prevalence of nosocomial infections and the use of antimicrobial treatments.