12% of infants acquire an infection in Canadian hospitals

Part of the official response when we raise the problem of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) is to suggest that the people afflicted by HAIs are old and sick anyway. (Which, even on the face of it, is an unsettling response.)

Earlier, I reported a study which indicated that the very young (between one month and 23 months old) were the most likely to acquire an infection (8.2%), followed by patients aged 65 to 74 (7.2%) -- at least in British hospitals.

Well, another researcher has now directed me to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control by Gravel et. al. in 2007, which also found that 8% of children in Canadian hospitals acquired an infection

The Canadian study also found that infants (1 month to 2 years of age) had a higher prevalence of HAI -- 12%.

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