Antibiotics attack bacteria by demolishing part of their protective cell wall. To fight back, bugs can foil the antibiotic by changing the wall so the medicines can't get in. They can also pass those new tricks on to other bacteria. The study, at eight hospitals in seven states between 1994 and 1995, compared the strength of common bacteria such as staphylococcus and enterococcus and the antibiotics commonly used to kill them. The hospitals were not identified.
Bacteria can hide anywhere, and they can collect on clothing, blankets, walls and medical equipment.
Hospital workers can pass them on by hand and they can cling to tubes inserted into the body. Patients in the ICU are generally the weakest, which puts them at even more risk for infection. Drug resistance in hospitals means patients must take more expensive drugs and stay in the hospital longer. Some hospital-acquired infections can kill. The study is an outgrowth of the CDC's Hospital Infections Program, whose tracking system is the only national source of information on hospital-acquired infections.