Researchers say hospital disease MRSA is fighting

Millions of funding for the development of a vaccine against hospital germs

23/11/2012

Researchers at the University of Gießen are starting to fight with multidrug-resistant hospital germs. Together with colleagues from the US, the scientists want to develop a vaccine against the antibiotic-resistant pathogen MRSA.

Multidrug-resistant pathogens are a growing problem in clinics across Germany. According to the German Society for Hospital Hygiene (DGKH), the Society for Hygiene, Environmental Medicine and Preventive Medicine (GHUP) and the Federal Association of Physicians of the Public Health Service (BVÖGD), around 30,000 people die each year from an infection with the so-called hospital germs. The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria are among the most common clinical germs. Researchers at the University of Gießen have now received more than 800,000 euros in funding to develop and test a vaccine against MRSA together with US scientists.

Development and testing of an MRSA vaccine planned
The renowned scientific society of „Association for questions of osteosynthesis“ The Clinic and Polyclinic for Trauma Surgery Giessen and the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Rochester (New York) has received a total of around three million Swiss francs from the „Clinical Priority Program: Bone Infection“ authority. The Giessen trauma surgery will be provided around one million Swiss francs (about 820,000 euros) of this, in order to intensify research in the field of a vaccine against MRSA, according to the announcement of Justus Liebig University Giessen on Thursday. In cooperation with US scientists, not only data are to be collected worldwide on infections with the antibiotic-resistant clinical germ, but the research project also includes the development and testing of a vaccine against MRSA. For example, the prevention and treatment of bone infections with multidrug-resistant hospital germs could potentially be significantly improved in the future. Dr. Volker Alt from the Clinic and Polyclinic for Traumatology. (Fp)

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Picture: Dr. Karl HERRMANN