If you’re sick, you go to the hospital to get better, right?
Kind of.
While this is mostly true, a stay in the hospital can also lead to some pretty nasty illnesses.
Hospital-acquired diseases and infections—otherwise known as nosocomial infections—are caused by the bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses that call hospitals home. An infection is only classed as nosocomial if a patient is admitted for a different reason, and picks up an illness during their hospital stay.
The most common types of hospital acquired infection (HAIs) are surgical site infections, UTIs, bloodstream infections, pneumococcal infections, MRSA, and gastrointestinal illnesses. These infections appear between 48 hours and four days after a patient is admitted and are usually related to a procedure used to treat the patient’s initial illness or injury.
While a rising number of HAIs and increased focus on disease management globally are leading to a 19.44% CAGR from 2014-2019 in the global hospital acquired disease testing market, there are still some pretty significant challenges facing healthcare practitioners, patients and market vendors when it comes to hospital-acquired diseases.
Lack of awareness and poor infrastructure leading to more HAIs
The big thing to know about HAIs is that they are mostly preventable. These infections usually occur because of lack of awareness, not following proper protocols related to hospital management, and lack of knowledge of infection control guidelines.
To compound this, many countries lack the proper hospital infrastructure to really manage infectious diseases like HAIs. There are no observation systems in place for healthcare-associated infections, which makes diagnosing and treating HAIs a big challenge in itself.
The kicker is that HAIs result in longer hospital stays, increased antimicrobial resistance and even long-term disability for patients, which makes them more susceptible to infections in the future.
Technological advancements expected to be a boon for disease testing
But before you swear off ever going to the hospital again, don’t worry—it’s not all bad news, and there are actually some significant advancements that will lead to better testing and prevention of HAIs.
Big leaps forward in molecular diagnostics have enabled the detection and treatment of many diseases including hospital acquired infections. Specific pathogen identification is one of the most promising technologies for detecting nosocomial infections such as MRSA and C. difficile.
The market is expected to witness more product launches with advanced features in the next few years. Vendors are focusing on introducing innovative testing kits for fester microbe detection, and point-of-care (POC) testing is also gaining steam globally, since rapid diagnosis through POC devices helps reduce in-patient hospital acquired infections and thereby overall healthcare expenditure.
Focus on Early Diagnosis and Preventive Medicine
There has been a lot of emphasis recently on not allowing hospital acquired diseases to happen in the first place (and getting there early if they do happen). Prevention and, failing that, early diagnosis are key to stopping the spread of infectious diseases and in turn reducing hospital stays and treatments costs. These factors, coupled with mounting pressure on hospitals and other healthcare entities to reduce healthcare expenditure without compromising the quality of treatment, is pushing focus towards early diagnosis and preventive medicine.
The shift in focus will be a critical factor that is expected to have a positive impact on the growth of the global hospital acquired disease testing market during the forecast period.
