(CNN) - Germs in hospitals kill more Americans every year than car accidents, fires and drownings combined, the Chicago Time reports.

In a special investigation, the newspaper found that in 2000 nearly three quarters of these deadly infections - or about 75,000 - were preventable. Strict adherence to clean-hand policies alone could save 20,000 lives, according to the federal government.

a. Currently healthcare workers' adherence to recommended hand hygiene practices is unacceptably low.
b. Compliance to hygiene recommendations is estimated as <50%.

(CNN) Germs in hospitals kill more Americans every year than car accidents, fires and drownings combined, the Chicago Time reports.

In a special investigation, the newspaper found that in 2000 nearly three-quarters of these deadly infections - or about 75,000- were preventable.

Doctor Sanjay Gupta, CNN's medical correspondent, talked about 100,000 deaths from these infections as being truly one's that are picked up when one goes to a hospital and cited different things in which germs and infections were found.

a. Unsanitary conditions existing in hospitals.
b. Germ-laden instruments.
c. Unsterile clothing.
d. Unwashed hands.

For many of us, going to the dentist is a traumatic experience. The poking and drilling that goes on for those few hours does not make any future visits any more inviting. Now imagine that the water used during all of those dental procedures was so laden with bacteria, some experts compare it to pond scum.

20/20's Arnold Diaz wanted to find out how widespread the problem is. The results of a 20/20 investigation revealed startling levels of bacteria. Almost 90 percent of the water samples tested did not meet federal drinking water standards and two-thirds of them contained oral bacteria, from the saliva of previous patients.

a. Design of the water lines that feed the dental tools holding the water, when unused, the water sits inside the tubing and stagnates. The small number of environmental bacteria naturally found in the water quickly multiply and clings to the walls of the tubing. When the equipment is used again, the bacteria can be flushed into the mouths' of patients.

b. For immune-weakened systems, these forms of bacteria can potentially cause disease.