[Incidence of hospital infections at a university hospital].

To evaluate the real status of the hospital acquired infection in the Hospital Clínico Universitario of Salamanca, we have carried out a study of incidence during three years, which was based on the program of continuous active infection surveillance of the Preventive Medicine Service. The overall incidence rate was 4.8%. The incidence rates for infective localizations were 2.3% for urinary tract infection, 1.0% for surgical wound infection, 0.6% for pneumonias and 0.5% for bacteremias. The most common infection was urinary tract infection, which amounted to 46.5% of the overall instances. The highest rates for services were those from Intensive Care Unit (14.4%), Hematology (10.5%) and Surgery (7.0%). In 302 patients, representing 9.8% of the infected patients, more than one infection was detected. The program of continuous surveillance of hospital acquired infection is a method that allows the acquisition of permanent information about the real status of this problem at any time, as well as the implementation of the adequate preventive measures in each case.