Epidemiologic aspects of nosocomial infections.
In a currently ongoing surveillance of hospital-associated infections in two metropolitan hospitals in Oklahoma, the results over a four-month period suggest at least tentative principles of host-agent relationships in hospital-associated infections. Within the urinary tract, the site with the highest number of total isolations, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most common pathogens. By age, the under 5 and over 60 year age groups had the highest number of isolations. Staphylococcus aureus and E coli were isolated more frequently in the younger group, while K pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, and Proteus mirabilis occurred more frequently in infections among the older group. A higher frequency of Enterobacter sp and S aureus were isolated among male patients, while Candida  albicans and E coli apparently had a greater affinity for females; however, none of these differences by sex were statistically significant. Over 50% of the infections were manifest within the first ten days of hospitalization.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009825:Oklahoma; D011159:Population Surveillance; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology