Topical areas of researches in the nonspecific prevention of health care-associated infections

To prevent healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) is one of the global problems under the present conditions of development of a health care system and mankind as a whole. In the Russian Federation, there are no generalized valid statistical data on the specific social and economic burden caused by HCAI for the population. According to official statistical data, Russia annually notifies about 25,000-30,000 HCAI cases; however, Russian investigators consider that these are actually at least 2-2.5 million cases. The available evidence suggests that HCAI-caused economic damage in Russia is underestimated by 30-50 times. In the country, the national concept of HCAI prevention was adopted in 2011 and is now in force. The most important basis for practical realization of its provisions is a scientific component. This paper considers only some areas of promising researches into the nonspecific prevention of HCAI. The resistance of HCAI pathogens to antibacterial drugs, including antibiotics, disinfectants, and skin antiseptics, is now the focus of meticulous attention of scientists and practical health specialists in many countries. Within the framework of this problem, it is promising to investigate the mechanisms of acquired resistance to biocides by the results of genome sequencing, to determine criteria for ranking disinfectants by the level of potential risk for their resistance, by that of rotation of disinfectants, to study new approaches in order to design promising disinfectants based on synergistic combinations of antimicrobial drugs, etc. The use of bacteriophages to solve the problem of HCAI is one of the most important current research areas. The bacteriophages have recently assumed special importance due to antibiotic resistance; today they are highly effective for treating most of nosological entities of pyoseptic infections at different locations and nosocomial enteric infections. This area requires current scientific development in order to study the use of bacteriophages as biological disinfectants in the epidemic foci of different nosological entities of HCAI and at the healthcare facilities of different profiles.

healthcare-associated infections, microbial resistance to disinfectants and skin antiseptics, resistance mechanisms, genome sequencing, antibiotic resistance, bacteriophages, biological disinfectants