[Monitoring of nosocomial infections using the HELICS network]

The Hospitals in Europe Link for Infection Control through Surveillance (HELICS) network has been implemented in 15 countries of the EU. The network has been responsible for standardization of definitions, collection of data, and therapeutic procedures. The aim of study was to assess the usefulness of ICU-HELICS programme for surveillance of infections in ITU.

The following data were recorded: kind of infections and their incidence, device utilization ratios for lung ventilation, central venous and urinary catheters. Infections were diagnosed according to CDC and HELICS criteria.

During the 12-months period nosocomial infection was diagnosed in 62 out of 178 patients (35%). The incidence of device-associated nosocomial infection was 34.8 per 1000 patients, and the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) was 16 per 1000 ventilator days. CVC-related bloodstream infections (BSI) occurred in 5.6 cases per 1000 catheter days. The incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (UTI) was 6.8 per 1000 catheterisation days. The most common pathogen in VAP was Acinetobacter baumanii and in UTI--methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci.

In the present study overall incidence of nosocomial infections within ITU was not found to be different from that in 1995. The incidence of device-associated nosocomial infections was higher than the mean value for developing countries, but lower than in Finland. The incidence of VAP was higher than in USA and in the majority of European countries with the exception of Holland, Spain, and Finland. In conclusion, we found the HELICS networkto be very helpful, allowing for observation and analysis of nosocomial infections and comparison with other centres.