The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that on any given day, about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection (HAI). Healthcare-associated infections are those infections that patients acquire during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions.

A number of these infections are due to an expanding list of drug-resistant microbial pathogens. The CDC defines antibiotic/antimicrobial resistance as the ability of microbes to resist the effects of drugs, meaning the germs are not killed, and their growth is not stopped. Although some people are at greater risk than others, no one can completely avoid the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections states the CDC.

“Any infections from resistant organisms are almost always difficult to treat, requiring costly and sometimes toxic alternatives,” said Michael Berrevoets, President, VOETS, LLC. “The increase in drug-resistant infections, due to organisms like MRSA and C. diff, has been devastating to so many over the past decade. Hospitals and other healthcare environments are especially sensitive to their presence due to the large number or patients with weakened or suppressed immune systems and because of the procedures that occur in these places.”

Several years ago the CDC published a report outlining the top 18 drug-resistant threats in the United States at that time. They included microbial pathogens categorized as urgent, serious, and concerning threats. Recently, the environmental pathogen experts at VOETS sponsored an educational video about these pathogens that can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/vb_g3lGKrso

New York and tri-state area healthcare providers have access to the professionals at VOETS who offer testing and consulting services to identify environmental pathogens, confirm surface cleaning and disinfection procedures, and can help to pinpoint the source of an outbreak if one has already occurred.