According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), health care associated infections (HCAI) are currently the
fourth leading cause of death in the United States, with an estimated death
toll of nearly 100,000 per year. This equates to the crash of a commercial
airliner every day, with over 270 deaths every 24 hours. Infections picked up
in health care facilities lead to more deaths per year than breast cancer, AIDS,
and automobile accidents combined. In a separate study, the CDC estimated that
the costs for such infections, which are often preventable, are nearly$40
billion per year.
This is a tragic loss of life and enormous waste of scarce
resources. That is why restoration contractors are increasingly being called to
bring their specialized cleaning skills to the health care arena. In such
situations, physical destruction of pathogens is preferred over harsher and
harsher chemicals since, over time, many harmful microbes develop a resistance
to antimicrobial agents. The ability to deep clean intricate items is even more
important in light of several studies by the American Medical Association,
which indicate that 30 to 60% of micro-organisms are left behind after standard
hospital cleaning practices.