Division 3.1 GENERAL CASE DEFINITION OF NOSOCOMIAL INFECTION (OR ‘HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTION’)

A nosocomial infection associated to the current hospital stay is defined as infection that matches one of the case definitions AND

• the onset of symptoms was on Day 3 or later (day of admission = Day 1) of the current hospital admission OR

• the patient underwent surgery on day 1 or day 2 and develops symptoms of a Surgical Site Infection before day 3 OR

• an invasive device was placed on day 1 or day 2 resulting in an HAI before day 3

A nosocomial infection associated to a previous hospital stay is defined as infection that matches one of the case definitions

AND

• the patient presents with an infection but has been readmitted less than two days after a previous admission to an acute care hospital

  OR

• the patient has been admitted with an infection that meets the case definition of a Surgical Site Infection i.e. the SSI occurred within 30 days of the operation (or in the case of surgery involving an implant was a deep or organ/space SSI that developed within a year of the operation) and the patient either has symptoms that meet the case definition and/or is on antimicrobial treatment for that infection

  OR

• the patient has been admitted (or develops symptoms within two days) with Clostridium difficile infection less than 28 days from a previous discharge from an acute care hospital.

For the purpose of point prevalence surveys, an active nosocomial infection present on the day of the survey is defined as an infection for which signs and symptoms of the infection are present on the survey date or signs and symptoms were present in the past and the patient is (still) receiving treatment for that infection on the survey date. The presence of symptoms and signs should be verified until the start of the treatment in order to determine whether the treated infection matches one of the case definitions of nosocomial infection