Healthcare Associated Infection Program (HAI)

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What is an HAI?

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections caused by a wide variety of common and unusual bacteria, fungi, and viruses during the course of receiving medical care. Medical advances have brought lifesaving care to patients in need, yet many of those advances come with a risk of HAI. These infections related to medical care can be devastating and even deadly. As our ability to prevent HAIs grows, these infections are increasingly unacceptable. Recent successes in HAI elimination have been encouraging but there is still much work to be done.

More information about HAIs can be found at the Federal CDC's HAI website https://www.cdc.gov/HAI/index.html.

Healthcare Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistance (HAI/AR) Program

The HAI/AR program at the Maine CDC works in multiple capacities to prevent and respond to Disease Surveillance transmission threats in healthcare settings. See below for a list of some of the activities performed by the program.

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Unites healthcare and public health communities, as well as patients and the general public, in a common goal of reducing and preventing HAIs, including antibiotic-resistant infections.

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Collaborates with state partners, including healthcare systems and the private sector to develop, refine, and implement HAI prevention and antibiotic stewardship strategies.

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Tailors national HAI prevention guidelines and strategies so that state and local communities have the best prevention practices.

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Detects and responds to HAI and antibiotic-resistant threats, provides technical expertise for outbreak response, and conducts infection control assessments to identify areas for improvement.

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Analyzes HAI data to identify state, regional, or local patterns/trends to drive prevention and reduction activities and conducts data validation activities to ensure reported data is accurate.

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Serves as a central resource hub for credible, up-to-date, evidence-based information for HAI awareness, prevention, and outbreak response.

Working together to prevent HAIs

Disclaimer: The design and images on this page were adapted from products developed by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with funding for the original products coming from the CDC.