[Evolution of nosocomial infection prevalence in an Algeria university hospital (2001 to 2005)]

A program against nosocomial infections was implemented in 2001 in the university hospital of Blida. A yearly survey of nosocomial infection (NI) prevalence was carried out from 2001 to 2005 to evaluate this program's impact. The aim of these surveys was to evaluate the rate of NI prevalence.

All patients hospitalized for more than 48 h in acute care units were included. The study was designed as a one-day prevalence survey. For each patient, risk factors and presence of active nosocomial infections during the study day were recorded on a standardized form. Centers of Disease Control definitions criteria were used to identify nosocomial infections. Prevalence and frequency of risk factors were compared between the five yearly surveys.

A total of 1,362 patients were included in the five surveys. From 2001 to 2005, the prevalence of nosocomial infections and infected patients decreased respectively from 9.8 to 4%, and from 9.5 to 4% (P<0.001). In contrast, the frequency of risk factors, except for the frequency of patients with ASA score>or=3, did not significantly vary. The prevalence of surgical site infection very significantly decreased from 11.9 to 2.5%. The proportion of microbiological diagnoses was 61.6%. Gram-negative bacilli were predominant (77.2%).

These results show a decrease in the prevalence of nosocomial infections and suggest that the hospital program was efficient.