Active early warning system against hospital germs

Early warning system against hospital germs - mathematicians develop alarm system

01/28/2014

Hospital germs are considered particularly resistant. Again and again it comes to serious infections by resistant germs. Experts believe that about 15,000 people die each year from the infections. The use of antibiotics can no longer be tolerated by most resistant bacteria because they have developed defense strategies in the form of enzymes, which they virtually do „invulnerable“ do. They can also train so-called multi-resistance against several antibiotics.

Hospitals are the ideal place for bacteria
The medication used then no longer works and an infected person or an infected animal can sometimes become seriously ill or even die from the bacterial infection. Especially in places where many antibiotics are circulating, such as in hospitals or in factory farming, resistances develop particularly fast and strong. With every new drug the researchers use to defend themselves, bacteria continue to evolve and build their defense mechanism. One of the best known hospital germs is the so-called „MRSA“. For some time, doctors have been calling for not only researching new antibiotics, but also finding ways to stem the pathogens.

To effectively detect new pathogens, monitoring only one in five clinics can be sufficient. At least mathematicians want to have found this out with analytical calculation methods. The researchers refer to so-called “nosocomial infections“. These are infections that patients contract during a stay or treatment in a hospital or nursing home. The results of their study have the mathematicians in the journal „Proceedings of the National Academy of Science“ released.

For physicians from the University of Groningen even every patient who is transferred to another clinic, a risk, whether he is ill or is healthy. "Even if the patient is not ill, the pathogens can adhere to their skin or clothing“, explains Tjibbe Donker, who works at the university. Patients who are often referrals are, mathematically speaking, the biggest risk factor for the spread of resistant pathogens.

20 percent of all clinics are sufficient as an alarm system
For their study, the researchers focused on the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Theoretically, 20 percent of all clinics would be sufficient to build such a warning system. With strict controls, in most cases only two to three hospitals would be affected by the new germ. "If, on the other hand, we selected clinics randomly, we would have to keep an eye on 40 percent of them," explains mathematician Donker. The Dutch Ministry of Health is considering testing such a warning system in a region. Klaus-Dieter Zastrow, member of the board of the German Society for Hospital Hygiene, also finds the idea of ​​such an early-warning system interesting. He stresses, however, that "the most important thing in the fight against new germs is not to let them emerge". The „Compliance with hygiene regulations is essential“.

Frequently, as a result of hospital germ infections, blood poisoning, pneumonia and wound infections occur. The bacteria can be detected on doorknobs, smocks and food trays. Often they survive undetected for weeks. (Fr)