Health care associated infections (HCAIs) add incrementally to the morbidity, mortality, and cost expected of the patient's underlying diseases alone. Approximately, about half all cases of HCAIs are associated with medical devices. As Candida medical device-associated
infection is highly
drug resistant and can lead to serious life-threatening complications, there is a need of continuous surveillance of these
infections to initiate preventive and corrective measures. The present study was conducted at a rural tertiary care hospital of India with an aim to evaluate the rate of medical device-associated
Candida infections. Three commonly encountered medical device-associated
infections (
MDAI),
catheter-associated
urinary tract infection (CA-UTI), intravascular
catheter-related blood stream
infections (CR-BSI), and
ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), were targeted. The overall rate of
MDAI in our hospital was 2.1 per 1000 device days. The rate of Candida related CA-UTI and CR-BSI was noted as 1.0 and 0.3, respectively. Untiring efforts taken by team members of Hospital Acquired Infection Control Committee along with maintenance of meticulous hygiene of the hospital and wards may explain the low
MDAI rates in our institute. The present surveillance helped us for systematic generation of institutional data regarding
MDAI with special reference to role of Candida spp.