Healthcare associated infections are infections a patient can catch when
receiving healthcare and/or during a stay in a healthcare institution (e.g. day
care, hospital care, long-term care). In hospitals, these infections are
referred to as 'hospital infections' and they affect an estimated 4.1
million patients in the EU annually and cause considerable increases in
illness, mortality and costs. They are often difficult to treat because the
microorganisms that cause them are resistant
to antibiotics 
български (bg) čeština (cs) dansk (da) Deutsch (de) eesti keel (et) ελληνικά (el) español (es) français (fr) italiano (it) latviešu valoda (lv) lietuvių kalba (lt) magyar (hu) Malti (mt) Nederlands (nl) polski (pl) português (pt) română (ro) slovenčina (sk) slovenščina (sl) suomi (fi) svenska (sv) .
Furthermore, with people's increasing mobility within and between healthcare systems and the freedom in the EU to seek medical treatment outside your country of residence, resistant micro-organisms can spread rapidly between countries.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is constantly monitoring the evolution of healthcare-associated infections in Europe.
