Over 1.7 million hospital infections occur in the US, killing 99,000 each year. A study led by Gary Noskin of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago (Clinical Infectious Diseases, November 2007) shows the infections have gone up by 7 per cent each year from 1998 to 2003 in the country. The economic loss from hai has also increased by about 12 per cent per year. Hospitals spend more on treating infected staff and this expense has also increased from $8.7 billion in 1998 to $14.5 billion in 2003.