On the whole, U.S. healthcare has made significant strides toward beating back healthcare-associated infections. However, omit the unfortunately common yet usually treatable C. difficile from the equation, and a lot of the remaining HAIs are caused by hard-to-kill, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

These seem to thrive with particular relentlessness in long-term acute care facilities.  

The good news is that even the fiercest antibiotic-resistant strains are controllable as long as facilities closely abide by practices currently recommended by the CDC.

Those are the main takeaways from a new CDC study, the report of which was published online March 3 in the agency’s online newsletterVital Signs.

CDC epidemiologist Lindsey Weiner, MPH, and colleagues analyzed 2014 data from 4,000 short-term acute care hospitals, 501 long-term acute care hospitals and 1,135 inpatient rehabilitation facilities reporting to the National Healthcare Safety Network.

Among their key findings on the progress against HAIs:

• Compared with baseline historic data from five to eight years earlier, central-line associated blood stream infections decreased by 50 percent and surgical-site infections by 17 percent in 2014.
• Catheter-associated urinary tract infections appear largely unchanged from baseline, but there have been recent decreases.
• C. diff infections in hospitals decreased 8 percent from 2011 to 2014.

The authors point out that, of 18 antibiotic-resistant bacteria identified by CDC as public health threats, six, in addition to C. diff, cause HAIs.

In 2014, they report, the chance that an HAI was caused by one of these six antibiotic-resistant bacteria was 1-in-7 at short-term acute care hospitals.

That may not sound like a terrible threat. However, in long-term acute care hospitals, the odds were an eye-opening 1-in-4.  

“Preventing HAIs and the spread of antibiotic resistance is possible if physicians, nurses and healthcare leaders consistently and comprehensively follow all recommendations to prevent HAIs,” the authors conclude, “including prevention of catheter- and procedure-related infections, antimicrobial stewardship and implementation of measures to prevent spread.”

The CDC notes that around 2 million people in the U.S. get sick with antibiotic-resistant infections each year, with a death toll close to 23,000.

Weiner et al. say their report is the first to combine national data on antibiotic-resistant bacteria threats with progress on HAI prevention.

Click here for the full report.

For a related CDC resource, “Making Health Care Safer,” click here.