Baden-Württemberg in the fight against hospital germs

Baden-Württemberg in the fight against hospital germs. A new rapid test is to detect dangerous pathogens.

21/02/2011

In the future, patients should be examined as a precautionary measure for dangerous hospital germs during hospital admission. Baden-Württemberg plans according to reports of the Stuttgarter Nachrichten a corresponding Federal Council initiative to examine all patients on admission to the hospital with a rapid test for dangerous pathogens.

Screening examinations for dangerous hospital germs should be standard in the future for every patient admission in a clinic, demanded the Baden-Württemberg state minister of social affairs Monika Stolz (CDU). „We need to step up protection against dangerous hospital germs“, emphasized pride to the Stuttgarter Nachrichten. This requires a nationwide regulation, which wants to achieve Baden-Württemberg with a corresponding legislative initiative in the Bundesrat.

More than 600,000 infections due to hospital germs
Approximately 600,000 patients annually become infected according to official data of the health authorities in this country during a hospital stay with dangerous germs. 15,000 deaths are caused each year by the corresponding infections. Experts from the German Society for Hospital Hygiene (DGKH), however, assume that an average of around five percent of patients become infected with germs during a stay in the hospital. According to Klaus-Dieter Zastrow of the DGKH, this means more than 800,000 illnesses annually, whereby according to DGKH estimates, between 20,000 and 40,000 patients per year die in Germany as a result of infections with so-called hospital germs.

Multidrug-resistant pathogens in inpatient facilities
In particular, the multidrug-resistant pathogens - germs that are resistant to all common antibiotics - have long been a growing problem in many hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes, according to hygiene experts. For example, the multidrug-resistant staphylococcal pathogens (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA) as particularly dangerous. If the germs in the course of operations in wounds or hit an already weakened immune system, severe, even deadly diseases can be the result. In the absence of compliance with health regulations, the pathogens are easily transmitted by doctors, patients and caregivers and are rapidly spreading in inpatient settings.

Preventive examination of patients at hospital admission
Here, a check-up of patients when they arrive at the hospital would be a means to better control the spread of the dangerous pathogens. „It can not be that, from an economic point of view, the investigation of MRSA is omitted just because screening and hygiene measures are sometimes time-consuming and cost-intensive“, said Monika Stolz in an interview with the Stuttgarter Zeitung. With the help of a quick test, patients will, according to the will of the minister of state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, be examined for dangerous pathogens when they are admitted to hospital. Through the Federal Council initiative, Monika Stolz hopes for a nationwide uniform regulation, which at the same time ensures that the costs of the corresponding preventive medical check-up are borne by the health insurance companies. „We need this measure to protect all patients“ emphasized the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and added: „Extensive and often unsuccessful therapeutic measures come to us later much more expensive.“

Nationwide uniform hygiene regulation required
A hygiene ordinance, in order to meet the hygienic needs in the hospitals and to intensify the appropriate control, have so far issued only seven federal states. After the hygiene scandals in Hesse at the Fulda Hospital, Kassel and Eschwege, however, the Hessian Minister of Social Affairs Stefan Grüttner (CDU) has announced a corresponding hygiene ordinance for this year. However, there are still eight federal states that have not yet issued a hygiene ordinance for the inpatient care of patients. According to the experts like Klaus-Dieter Zastrow of the DGKH an unbearable condition. The hygiene expert already demanded several uniform hygiene regulations throughout Germany, because bacteria (...) are the same everywhere and for them „no differences between the states“ consist. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann