Hospital infection

Japanese: 院内感染 - いんないかんせん（英語表記）hospital infection

Hospital infection is also called hospital infection. It is a phenomenon where a person is infected in a medical facility where they are treated. However, it is difficult to determine where an infection was contracted in outpatients, and hospital infections are almost always confirmed to be hospital infections. According to the first hospital infection incidence survey in Japan conducted by the National Kumamoto Hospital in 1988, the incidence rate was about 29 per 1,000 patients per year. However, recently, infections caused by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is highly resistant to antibiotics, have been increasing and become a problem. The cause is thought to be the excessive use of third-generation antibiotics such as methicillin, which are effective against a wide range of bacteria, and the mortality rate is extremely high. In addition to MRSA, there are many opportunistic infections in which weakly toxic bacteria normally found in the human body suddenly become aggressive when resistance is reduced. Vancomycin has been used as an antibiotic effective against MRSA, but VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci) that is resistant to it has also appeared. In the United States, hospital infection control systems have been mandatory since 1969, and each hospital has a dedicated practitioner for preventing hospital infections. It is necessary to find the source of hospital infection and to determine its cause, but at the same time, it is also important to minimize the use of antibiotics.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

病院感染ともいう。病気の治療を行う医療施設において，逆に病気に感染してしまう現象。ただし外来患者の場合はどこで感染したか判断しにくく，院内感染と確定できるのは，ほとんど入院患者に限られる。 1988年に国立熊本病院が行なった日本初の院内感染発生率の調査によると年間 1000人の患者につき 29人程度の発生であった。しかし最近は抗生物質に対して強い耐性を示すMRSA (メチシリン耐性黄色ブドウ球菌) の感染がふえて，問題になっている。原因は，幅広い菌にきくメチシリンなどの第3世代の抗生物質の多用とみられ，死亡率はきわめて高い。 MRSAのほかにも，人体内に普段みられるような毒性の弱い細菌が，抵抗力が落ちると，急に凶暴になる日和見感染も少くない。 MRSAに有効な抗生物質としてバンコマイシンが用いられてきたが，それに抵抗性をもつVRE (バンコマイシン耐性腸球菌) も出現してきた。アメリカでは，院内感染対策制度が 1969年から義務づけられ，院内感染防止のための専任の実務担当者が各病院におかれている。院内感染源の発見とその原因究明が必要であるが，同時に抗生物質の使用を最低限度に抑えることも重要となる。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: In-hospital relief - In-hospital relief

>>: Inton Hyakushomura - Reclusive Farmer's Village