Clinical syndromes

Abstract

There are considerable differences, in various parts of the world, in the incidence of infection associated with intravenous infusion. For example, the problem appears to be much less common in Britain than in the USA and Canada. This is probably associated with regional differences in the preferred route of administration of drugs. Intravenous therapy, both for the correction of imbalance and for the administration of drugs, is much less often undertaken in Britain than in the USA. This is not a criticism. It is in part due to the fact that we have probably been slower in setting upintensive care units which regularly use the intravenous route for investi gation and therapy, often unnecessarily.