USA
- Length of hospitalisation more than doubled – 10 days
- Hospital stays for infection cost $14,000, double all other stays
- Treatment cost per infected patient – $92,000
- Annual direct cost of healthcare-associated infections
– $5 billion - Estimated total cost of healthcare-associated infections
– $30 billion
Europe
- Cost of treatment with vancomycin is 5-10 times that of penicillins
- Estimated additional costs associated with antibiotic resistance – €9 billion
The direct global cost of infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria is enormous. Factor in indirect costs such as loss of income and additional social cost burden and drug-resistant bacteria can be seen as one of the greatest public health issues the world faces.
Estimated total cost in the USA is $30 billion
The magnitude of the financial burden
In 2005, in Pennsylvania, 11,688 patients contracted a healthcare-associated infection in a hospital.
The average charge for patients who developed an infection was $173,206 – nearly four times as high as for patients admitted with the same diagnosis and severity of illness who did not contract an infection.
This represented over two billion dollars in hospital charges during one year, in one state.