Clinical Microbiology and Infection Prevention

Health care-associated infections (HAIs) represent one of the most common complications of care, affecting 5 to 10 % of patients admitted to acute-care hospitals worldwide. These HAIs are associated with enormous morbidity and mortality, resulting in more than 90,000 deaths each year in the United States (8). Every health care facility must therefore have a program charged with monitoring and preventing infections in the health care environment. Preventing infections requires the ability to detect them when they occur, which is why the clinical microbiology laboratory (CML) plays a key role in HAI prevention. Some of the major roles played by the CML in infection prevention include contributions to (i) surveillance, (ii) out-break detection and management, (iii) antimicrobial steward-ship, (iv) deliberations of the infection control committee, and