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Comment by dwd | Hacker News Reader

Something else unmentioned is that 70-80% of hospital acquired infections are related to medical devices that are susceptible to the formation of biofilms where the bacteria create a protective layer that antibiotics can't penetrate.

For example antibiotic resistant urinary tract infections caused by the use of catheters. Effective antibiotics simply don't work when they can't reach the infection.

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Oh, that's messed up. Aren't catheters supposed to be air-tight, sterile and single-use? Or do they reuse them?! >__>

Nothing can be _completely_ sterile all the time. Urinary catheters also tend to move a bit when inserted, so they tend to slowly transport bacteria from the outside into the inside.

Sure. But the lubricant they use usually contains antibiotics. Go figure.

> air-tight, sterile and single-use

That's the packaging. Once you break the seal, it's contaminated from the surrounding air. But that's not even relevant. When the catheter is inserted, it picks up bacteria from the genitals. No washing and disinfection can remove all of them. Also, like @cyberax said, the catheter can move. The longer it's kept in place, the more bacteria gets upstream.

Interesting - do you have the source handy?

To be more exact, it is 70-80% of hospital-aquired UTIs are catheter linked.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31532742/

The infection rate is initially 3-10% but increases by 5% for every day its left in.

Some more information here on biofilm development and sepsis/mortality rates which is chilling.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2963580/

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