nosocomial - Reflexions

nosocomial

Comes from the Greek nosokomeion which means hospital. A nocosomial infection is one which can be contracted in hospitals. As hospitals are places where many antibiotics are used, surviving bacteria are consequently the most resistant and the most harmful. Staphylococcus aureus is the most dangerous Gram-positive bacteria, resistant as it is to penicillin and its derivatives. Medical science is even more powerless against Gram-negative bacteria, which explains why so much research is beind done in this field. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are two well-known Gram-negative bacteria, dangerously pathogenic for weaker organisms : older patients, patients diagnosed with Aids, patients having received transplants, etc. They are responsible for pneumonias and wound, blood or urinary infections.