SPRINGFIELD — Potentially deadly infections reported by Illinois hospitals were down in 2010 from the previous year, according to the state Department of Public Health.

The department analyzed the number of bloodstream infections associated with central lines — catheters inserted into the neck or arm for infusions, blood withdrawals or heart or vessel studies — and found 75 percent of Illinois hospitals had the same or fewer number of infections in 2010 compared with the prior year.

In 2010, there were 282 of these infections reported among adult intensive care unit in Illinois hospitals, compared with 383 infections the previous year, according to the public health department.

According to data available for individual hospitals, infections in this category at Carle Foundation Hospital and Provena Covenant Medical Center for 2010 were identified as being "not statistically significantly better or worse" than the national average.

State Public Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold called the infection reduction a "significant step" forward in the protection of Illinois patients.

Infections develop in central lines when they're not put in correctly or kept clean, because they become a pathway for germs to enter the body, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the patients who develop bloodstream infections from a central line, one in four of them die.

Infections are largely preventable when CDC-recommended infection control measures are used, and have been reduced in hospital intensive care unit patients by 58 percent since 2001, according to the CDC.

Even nondeadly infections can result in prolonged hospital stays and higher costs, the health department says.

"Anytime you have a bloodstream infection, that's bad news," said Daniel Bronson-Lowe, an infection preventionist at Carle Foundation Hospital.

Health care systems have been working on reducing central-line-associated bloodstream infections through collaboratives, he and fellow Carle infection preventionist Eva Palmer said.

Carle launched infection-reduction initiatives through a previous collaborative, and joined a new one in 2010 and has since expanded with some national recommendations that have proven to be effective, Palmer said, such as addressing whether the central line is necessary and the possibility of early removal, "because if you get them out, you can't get an infection in them," Palmer said.

Some other measures, she said: hand hygiene, use of a safety checklist and standardized equipment.

Molly Nicholson, vice president of patient care and chief nursing executive at United Samaritans, said new mandated reporting of central-line infections has resulted in a renewed focus.

But reducing these infections has been part of national safety goals, and the hospital has worked for several years on protocols and best practices, and used them consistently to keep infection rates down.

The state has made the number of central-line-associated bloodstream infections at individual hospitals available online at http://www.healthcarereportcard.illinois.gov.

Following are the numbers for three area hospitals. The numbers reflect how many infections there were in 2010 in adult intensive care units per central-line days — the total number of days that all patients on a central line had a line in place:

— Carle Foundation Hospital: five infections in 2,690 central-line days.

— Provena Covenant Medical: two infections in 1,903 central-line days.

— Provena United Samaritans Medical Center, Danville: one infection in 641 central-line days.

Carle also had six central-line infections in 1,282 central-line days in its neonatal intensive care unit.