Abstract

A long-period survey was carried out in three University Hospitals in Ilam-Iran in during Feb. 1997 to Jan. 2003, to determine the incidence of nosocomial infections (NIs) by site of infection, Hospital department and micro-organisms. Hospitals (N- 3) with more than 100 beds were studied. By classification sampling of 88473 hospitalized patients in three Hospitals of Ilam city, 5572 patients were selected and follow-up for nosocomial infections. Demographic and Clinical data were recorded from medical chart review by two investigators. The overall prevalence of NIs was 7.75 (CI: 6-9.5). Of 5572 patients, the most frequent site of NIs were the urinary tract infections (29.7 of NIs), followed by surgical wound infections (27.3) and bloodstream infections (16.7). Greatest prevalence rate was found in the Surgery department (11.6), followed by the adult ICU (8.2). The Positive cultures were found in 89.9 of the cases. Where only one micro-organism was isolated the most frequently isolated pathogen from all sites of infections was Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (17.8), followed by Escherichia coli (15.7) and Staphylococcus aureus (13.1). According to the results, there was significant difference between nosocomial infections and age groups (p = 0.044). This survey showed that NIs occurred in Ilam University Hospitals at a rate similar to that reported in European countries. These findings provide baseline information for further surveillance in association with prevention programmes in Ilam University Hospitals. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.