Specific control measures for antibiotic prescription are related to lower consumption in hospitals: results from a French multicentre pilot study.

Background: In France, antibiotic consumption (ABC) is dramatically high in parallel with the high rate of multidrug-resistant bacteria. For the last few years, a nationwide policy has been implemented at the national level to control and monitor ABC. Since 2002, surveillance networks have been set up with voluntary hospitals to evaluate the antibiotic policy and consumption.

Morbidity and mortality associated with surgical site infections: results from the 1997-1999 INCISO surveillance.

Since 1997, a surgical-site infections (SSI) surveillance network (INCISO) has been implemented in volunteer general surgical units in Northern France. For three months each year, all patients who undergo a surgical procedure are consecutively reviewed for their peri-operative condition and traced for outcome with a 30-day follow-up. Of the 38973 surgical patients included over a three-year period, 1344 (3.