Assessing the Risk of Hospital-acquired Infection and Multi-drug Resistance Among Hospitalized Severe Acutely Malnourished Children

This study is designed as a cross-sectional, non-randomized, two-site, four-phase study: an initial baseline period, two intervention periods, and a final interruption period.

This is a descriptive study to collect information on the risk of HCAIs in the MSF-supported inpatient nutritional treatment centers. Information on key clinical indicators will be collected regularly according to the routine program procedures from the time of admission to discharge. All children will undergo a blood draw for culture at time of admission and at the time of any suspected hospital-acquired bloodstream infection. As part of active surveillance for bacterial colonization, including multi-drug resistant organisms, all children will undergo nasal and rectal swabs at the time of admission, suspected infection, and discharge. Data will provide an estimate of nosocomial infection incidence under routine circumstances and inform sample size calculations if further study is warranted.