49,000 hospital infection deaths in 2016: report

(ANSA) - Rome, May 15 - Hospital deaths from infections contracted in hospital rose from 18,688 in 2003 to 49,301 in 2016, according to the 2018 report from Osservasalute presented in Rome Wednesday. The report sounded a "red alert" over deaths from hospital infections. Italy accounts for fully 30% of all deaths from sepsis in the European Union, the report said. "There is a massacre happening," said the director of the national health observatory, Walter Ricciardi. "Thousands of people are dying every day from hospital infections, but the phenomenon is being underestimated, with the idea spreading that it is an unavoidable fact".