Hand Hygiene and Infection

Prevention

• Of every 100 hospitalized patients, at least 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire
HAIs. In intensive care units, that figure rises to around 30%, according to a recent WHO report.1

• Patients that are generally unwell and have a compromised immune system are at greater risk of
contracting infections commonly spread through poor hand hygiene such salmonella, campylobacter, flu,
impetigo, norovirus, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as MRSA and C-diff, both of which can be potentially
fatal.2
 Health-care Associated
Infections
• At any given time, the prevalence of health care-associated infection in developed countries varies
between 3.5% and 12%.1
 Ignatz Semmelweis
• 1847-Austrian Doctor, Ignatz Semmelweis demonstrated that "childbed fever" was
contagious and that its incidence could be reduced from 13% to 2% or less by enforcing
appropriate hand-washing behavior by medical care-givers.3
 Florence Nightingale
• 1854- Florence Nightingale
At a time when most people believed that infections were caused by foul odors called miasmas,
Florence Nightingale implemented handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital in which
she worked. While the target of these practices was to fight the miasmas, Nightingale’s handwashing
practices achieved a reduction in infections.4
 Transmission of Staphylococcus Aureus
• 1962- Researchers in Cleveland publish findings about the transmission of Staphylococcus
aureus (S. aureus) infection from nurses to patients.
• While investigating the transmission of S. aureus, the researchers make shocking
observations about the role of clean hands:
• 54% of newborns who are handled by carrier nurses with unwashed hands become
colonized with S. aureus.
• 92% of babies who are treated by a nurse colonized with S. aureus with unwashed
hands become infected with the S. aureus strain. The percentage is significantly lower
for babies handled by nurses who wash their hands—53%.5