DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY
8725 John J. Kingman Road, MS 6201 Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060-6201
EXECUTIVE PROJECT SUMMARY PAEROSOL BIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF HOSPITAL SUITES DTRA RD-IST
Over 90,000 individuals die every year from “nosocomial infections,” or hospitalacquired infections (HAIs). The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 1.7 million patients acquire HAIs annually with healthcare-associated costs between $5 and $11 billion. Many patients entering the hospital are already sick and are at risk from acquiring a secondary infection from contact with other patients, nurses, doctors, during surgery, catheterization, or from an inanimate surface like a telephone touch pad, nurses touch screens, bedrails, or privacy drapes, any of which may turn the visit to the hospital from routine to life threatening. Most common types of HAIs are urinary tract infections, followed by surgical site infections, bloodstream infections, and then pneumonia.