[Prospective study of nosocomial infections at a pediatrics unit]

During a 10-month period a surveillance program was conducted to detect nosocomial infections (NIs) in the Pediatric Unit at the Hospital General O'Horan in Mérida, Yucatán. Five hundred and five infections were detected among 359 patients from a total of 2823 discharges, yielding a 17.9% rate. The NI rate among newborns delivered in the hospital was 13.1%; among the other pediatric services the rate was 26.4%, and was 30% in the ICU. Forty-four percent of the infections were epidemic. In decreasing order, the most common NIs were diarrhea, bacteremia and "suspect bacteremia", omphalitis, conjunctivitis and phlebitis associated with intravenous cannulas. Cultures of the infection sites isolated gram-negative bacteria in 97%. The most frequently isolated bacteria were Salmonella spp, and Escherichia coli. Our results, in conjunction with data obtained from other recent studies, suggest that the global NI rate in México is probably greater than previously estimated, with a high proportion of epidemic infections. This underscores the urgent need to establish a national surveillance program in order to determine the epidemiology of NIs more accurately, and thus implement effective control measures.