Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases

Global Markets on Infectious Diseases

Any discussion of the business case for infection control (IC) must start by acknowledging that the single most important reason for IC is to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with nosocomial infections. Each year, hundreds and thousands of Americans suffer the consequences of nosocomial infections which can be ranging from the inconvenience of taking extra medications to death. Beyond the human cost is the important economic burden that these infections place on society, including not only the obvious increase in health care resource use but also indirect costs associated with the loss of productivity of patients and their caregivers.