Healthcare-associated Infections in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Ukraine

Abstract

Healthcare-associated Infections (HAIs) are a major threat to patient safety and the quality of healthcare globally. Despite this, Ukraine does not have a nationally coordinated program for the surveillance and reporting of HAIs. Epidemiology of Healthcare-associated Infections in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatal Centers is Ukrainian first evidence-based assessment of the epidemiology of HAIs based results of multicentre prospective HAI surveillance study data and peer-reviewed literature sources. The increasing emergence and spread of multi-drug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in hospitals is a public health problem and continues to challenge infection control and hospital epidemiology practice worldwide. Our studies found a high prevalence of HAI caused by MDROs, varying widely depending on the bacterial species, antimicrobial group, and geographical region of Ukraine. The majority of MDRO isolates carried b-lactamase genes. Also, MDROs were a major contributor to HAI-caused deaths. These data underscore the importance of tracking antimicrobial resistance in hospitals. To reduce antimicrobial resistance, it is necessary to develop and implement advanced infection control measures based on HAI surveillance data. Surveillance of HAIs may help to delineate the requirements for infection prevention and control. Microbiological monitoring of the prevalence of aetiologic agents of HAIs and antimicrobial resistance is necessary to enhance our knowledge of its epidemiology and treatment. This work is the first to focus on characterizing the epidemiology of MDROs transmission via the HCW and the environment in Ukrainian hospital wards/patient rooms. Our study focused on overall patient-to-patient transmission regardless of the transmission pathway.