One of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients presently are hospital-acquired infections (HAI), according to the World Health Organization. Also known as nosocomial infections, HAIs are mostly caused due to bacteria. As antibiotics are utilized frequently within hospital settings, the types of bacteria and their resistance to antibiotics is different than that of bacteria outside of the hospital. HAIs result in an enormous rise in the cost of the hospital care and further leads to the emergence of new health hazards for the community.

Different HAI infection types are hospital acquired pneumonia, gastrointestinal infections, urinary tract infections (UTI), bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections. In 2017, hospital acquired UTIs were caused the most. This infection is generally caused because of medical devices such as due to the improper utilization of catheters. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75% hospital acquired UTIs are associated with urinary catheters. In addition to this, the prevalence of hospital acquired gastrointestinal infections is also projected to increase in the coming years. 

The diagnosis of these infections is done using urinalysis, immunoassay, and molecular diagnostics tests. Because of the rising prevalence of HAIs such as surgical site infections, UTIs, bloodstream infections, and gastrointestinal infections, the demand for immunoassay test was the highest in the past. Apart from this, the utilization of molecular diagnostics is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, on account of the growing awareness and acceptance of personalized medicines, surging prevalence of infectious diseases, and growth in the biomarker identification. In 2017, the largest number of HAIs were caused in hospitals. 

North America is expected to emerge as the largest hospital-acquired infection diagnostics market in the coming years, which is attributed to the well-developed healthcare industry, growing number of patients suffering from nosocomial infections, and presence of major hospital acquired infections diagnostics manufacturers in the region. In addition, many technological advancements are taking place in the medical field which have made diagnosis processes easy and more accurate. Innovations in the field such as mass spectrometry, nucleic acid-based technologies, floe cytometry, near-infrared spectroscopy, and isothermal microcalorimetry are extensively being adopted for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. 

Hence, the demand for HAI diagnosis is rising because of the rising prevalence of infectious diseases and technological advancements.