By AP
Nashville, TN – A new study finds infection rates in Tennessee's neonatal intensive care units are 70% higher than the national average. The study finds high-risk babies in Tennessee hospitals are 40% more likely to have infections than the national average. That number rises to 70% for babies weighing 1.6 pounds or less. But a year-old initiative that aims to cut Tennessee's infection rate by more than half in the next five years may already be working. The Tennessean reports the pediatric infection data for the report was collected in 2008 and 2009, and several hospitals say their rates of infection have decreased in the past year.