Nosocomial infections in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Albania

This study aimed to determine the incidence of nosocomial infections (NI) in general and device associated infections (DAI) in the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of University Hospital Center (UHC), Tirana, Albania. We performed a prospective study on the incidence of NIs and DAIs in the PICU according to CDC criteria, between May 2011 and December 2012. In the PICU 615 patients were hospitalised for 4597 days and acquired 140 episodes of NI with an incidence and NI rate of 22.8 %, 30 per 1000 patient-days, respectively. The lower respiratory tract infection rate was 10.5 %, with a ventilator associated (VAP) rate 6.8 %, followed by urinary tract infection (UTI) rate with catheter associated UTI rate 7.1 % and blood stream infection (BSI) rate 4.2 %, with central line associated BSI (CLABSI) rate 2.4 %. NI rates per 1000 device-days were 34.4 for VAP, 30.5 per 1000 CVC- days for CLABSI, 32.6 per 1000 UC-days for UTI. The device utilization of CVC, ETT, UC, surgical status, younger age, parenteral nutrition, H2 rec. blockers and blood transfusions were risk factors for NI. The incidence of NI, CLABSI, VAP, CAUTI were higher than international standards and strongly associated with extrinsic factors.