Infections at Hospitals Are Falling, C.D.C. Says

March 28, 2014

(New York Times) – The number of infections Americans acquire during hospital stays every year has declined substantially over the last decade, federal health officials said in a report on Wednesday, as hospitals have worked to improve their practices and nursing homes’ role in medical care has grown. Federal health officials said there were about 722,000 hospital infections in 2011, far fewer than past estimates, which put the number around 1.7 million a year. At the 2011 rate, one in every 25 patients contracted an infection while in the hospital; by previous estimates, about one in 20 did.