HOW TO AVOID GETTING INFECTIONS IN HOSPITAL
Aug 02, 2009
Hundreds of people walk out of hospital with worse diseases than those they are being treated for. A report from the Centres for Disease Control shows that more over 10% of people admitted in hospitals develop Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs).
BY TITUS SERUNJOGI
Hundreds of people walk out of hospital with worse diseases than those they are being treated for. A report from the Centres for Disease Control shows that more over 10% of people admitted in hospitals develop Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs).
According to Dr. Andrew Sekitooleko, a senior general practitioner at the International Hospital Kampala, patients can be infeceted with flu, candidiasis, thrush, sinuses, skin diseases, pneumonia, Hepatitis B and C, urinary tract infections, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
HAIs show up as a fever and general malaise contrary to the disease that someone is suffering from. Catheter and cannula-related infections can also show up as redness, pain, swelling and pus discharge around the point of insertion.
Infections are caused by micro-organisms which abound in the air, the surface we touch and the food we eat.
“Most of the micro-organisms that survive in hospitals will often have grown resistance to regular medication. By the time a patient visits a hospital, the immune system has been weakened, so they are at a higher risk of catching other diseases,†says Dr. Henry Kajumbura, the secretary of the Infection Control Committee of Mulago Hospital.
HAIs are prevalent in crowded hospitals, waiting rooms, instruments used during surgery, patients’ belongings, bed rails, health worker’s hands and clothes and frequent transfers back and forth between hospitals and the care facility.
Children, pregnant women and the elderly are at a higher risk of catching the diseases. So are the obese, the diabetic and those on long regimes of steroids or antibiotics.
Unless absolutely necessary, avoid taking children, pregnant women, the senile and those who are suffering from chronic diseases to visit hospitalised patients.
Sekitooleko and Kajumbura concur that the incidence of such infections can be reduced by 36% if patients, visitors, doctors and nurses maintain body hygiene by washing their hands and changing gloves between patients. They should also have a balanced diet.
Hundreds of people walk out of hospital with worse diseases than those they are being treated for. A report from the Centres for Disease Control shows that more over 10% of people admitted in hospitals develop Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs).
According to Dr. Andrew Sekitooleko, a senior general practitioner at the International Hospital Kampala, patients can be infeceted with flu, candidiasis, thrush, sinuses, skin diseases, pneumonia, Hepatitis B and C, urinary tract infections, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
HAIs show up as a fever and general malaise contrary to the disease that someone is suffering from. Catheter and cannula-related infections can also show up as redness, pain, swelling and pus discharge around the point of insertion.
Infections are caused by micro-organisms which abound in the air, the surface we touch and the food we eat.
“Most of the micro-organisms that survive in hospitals will often have grown resistance to regular medication. By the time a patient visits a hospital, the immune system has been weakened, so they are at a higher risk of catching other diseases,†says Dr. Henry Kajumbura, the secretary of the Infection Control Committee of Mulago Hospital.
HAIs are prevalent in crowded hospitals, waiting rooms, instruments used during surgery, patients’ belongings, bed rails, health worker’s hands and clothes and frequent transfers back and forth between hospitals and the care facility.
Children, pregnant women and the elderly are at a higher risk of catching the diseases. So are the obese, the diabetic and those on long regimes of steroids or antibiotics.
Unless absolutely necessary, avoid taking children, pregnant women, the senile and those who are suffering from chronic diseases to visit hospitalised patients.
Sekitooleko and Kajumbura concur that the incidence of such infections can be reduced by 36% if patients, visitors, doctors and nurses maintain body hygiene by washing their hands and changing gloves between patients. They should also have a balanced diet.