| Summary: | 1 ABSTRACT Healthcare-associated infections represent a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in hospital settings. The risk of nosocomial infection differs significantly in different group of patients, depending on the character of their primary illness, the co-morbidities, the type of care provided, the length of hospitalization, or the medical procedures used. Artificial surfaces such as central venous catheters, shunts, urinary catheters, valve and joint replacements or controlled lung ventilation play a major role. The majority of nosocomial infections is caused by several representative of Enterobacteriaceæ family, Pseudomonas spp., Acinetobacter spp., or some Gram-positives, especially Staphylococcus and Enterococcus spp. This is largely due to their ability to retain and transfer different types of resistance to antibiotics. The identification and subtyping of these pathogenic microorganisms is an essential tool of modern public health infectious disease surveillance not only for appropriate and efficient treatment of infections, but also in case of an outbreak. Understanding clonal continuity among investigated strains is essential to determine the source and routes of infections, confirm or rule out outbreaks, trace cross-transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens, or recognize virulent...
|
|---|
