In the hospital And the problem is not confined to North
America. Results of the European Prevalence of Infection in
Intensive Care Study concluded that ICU-acquired infection is
common and often is associated with resistant organisms. (8)
Data from that study, in which 1,417 Western European ICU's
provided 10, 038 patient case reports, indicated that almost 21
percent of patients developed ICU-acquired infections, many of
which were gram-positive (34 percent Enterobacteriaceae and 30
percent S. aureus; 60 percent of the S. aureus isolates were
methicillin-resistant). And resistance is more prevalent in
nosocomial bacterial strains than in those from the community.
(9) Three factors relate to the increased risk of nosocomial
infection: intrinsic elements, such as severe underlying
disease, multiple illnesses, extremes of age and
immunosuppression; invasive medical devices; crowding and the
presence of patients who have been colonized or infected.
Controlling nosocomial infections in the ICU has proved difficu