[Infection register at a surgical department in Hungary]

An infection register processing 905 surgical site infections followed after 33,426 operative interventions in a 20-year period between 1977 and 1996 is described. The preliminaries of modern infection surveillance both abroad and in Hungary are outlined. The method of registration and evaluation used by the authors are also outlined in details. The results divided into two 10-year and a 20-year groups. They are documented in several tables and linear regression diagrams. The infection rates are the following: 1977-1986: Category "A": 0.4%, Category "B": 1.9%, Category "C": 4.0%, Category "D": 19.3%; 1986-1996: Category "A": 0.6%, Category "B": 2.5%, Category "C": 0.9%, Category "D": 4.4%. There were slight increases in the categories "A" and "B" during the second decade, but they were not significant. On the other hand during the same period significant decrease in the infection rates was observed in groups "C" and "D". Rates of the superficial, deep and regional infections were also separately investigated. The same tendencies could be observed as above. The data had been compared with the recommendations of the Advisory Board of the Infectious and Tropical Diseases dated in 1994, and against the Hungarian HELICS study in 1995. Infection rates analysed in the register were lower in every categories. Based on the experience the authors have the opinion, that until one of the multicentric surveillance system (e.g. HELICS) will be broadly accepted, the prospective registration method used by the authors, though it is less complex, can also be effective in preventing surgical infections.