Healthcare-Associated Infectious Diseases Surge Annually... Gyeonggi-do to Hold 'Prevention Education' on 26-27

Gyeonggi Province will conduct medical infectious disease prevention education for nurses and others from nursing hospitals in the province over two days, on the 26th and 27th, at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital.

Gyeonggi Province will conduct infection prevention education related to healthcare-associated infections for nurses, including infection control officers from 307 nursing hospitals in the province, over two days on the 26th and 27th at Bundang Seoul National University Hospital in Seongnam.

The training topics include ▲What are antibiotics ▲Management of healthcare-associated infections ▲What is microbial testing ▲Environmental management of multidrug-resistant organisms focusing on Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) ▲Epidemiological investigation of exposed staff: tuberculosis and scabies ▲Infection control policies related to nursing hospitals.

After this training, Gyeonggi Province will continue to provide a consultation-type healthcare-associated infection prevention management project called 'Ask Anything About Infection Control' to individual institutions until the end of November.

Healthcare-associated infections are bacterial infections that occur within hospitals when bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has designated six types of multidrug-resistant organism infections as legally notifiable infectious diseases. These include Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) infection, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) infection, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MRPA) infection, Multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MRAB) infection, and Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infection.

Looking at the occurrence of healthcare-associated infections in the province over the past five years, the cases have increased annually: 1,781 in 2018, 2,498 in 2019, 3,321 in 2020, 4,598 in 2021, and 6,600 in 2022.

Ryu Young-cheol, Director of the Gyeonggi Provincial Health and Wellness Bureau, stated, "Healthcare-associated infections mainly occur in medical institutions. According to the 2022 age-specific incidence data, those aged 60 and over accounted for 5,686 cases, or 86.2%, indicating that the elderly require greater caution. We will continue to provide education on healthcare-associated infections and offer consultations to individual nursing hospitals in collaboration with Bundang Seoul National University Hospital."