Hospital germs in the Aschaffenburg Hospital

Three patients infected with antibiotic-resistant germs

08/11/2011

The reports of hospital infections with dangerous multidrug-resistant pathogens are not abolishing. At the Intensive Care Unit of the Aschaffenburg Hospital, three patients are currently suffering from infection with antibiotic-resistant hospital germs.

After the deaths of three premature babies at Bremen-Mitte Hospital in the past week as a result of infection with multidrug-resistant pathogens went through the media nationwide, several infections with antibiotic-resistant germs were reported from the Aschaffenburg Hospital. Two men and one woman between the ages of 60 and 70 had been infected with the dangerous pathogens in the intensive care unit. The clinic has taken comprehensive preventive measures to prevent further spread of multidrug-resistant hospital germs, reported the hospital manager Katrin Reiser on Tuesday to the news agency „DAPD“.

Multidrug-resistant hospital germs lead to the blockage of the intensive care unit
The patients concerned were isolated and the intensive care unit thoroughly disinfected, explained the clinic's managing director. In addition, a stop was granted for the intensive care unit. Doctors, nurses and visitors may only enter the ICU with disposable protective clothing. In view of her severe pre-existing conditions, the infection was particularly threatening for the three affected patients, although there is currently no reason to believe that the multidrug-resistant pathogens will continue to spread in the Aschaffenburg clinic. A risk for the other hospital patients does not exist, so the statement of the hospital managing director Katrin Reiser. However, the infection with the hospital germs first detected at the end of last week was a health risk that should not be underestimated for the immunocompromised, infected patients, since the pathogens can trigger pneumonia or serious wound infections. However, after the promptly initiated, „required hygienic measures no further infection“ occurred, stressed Reiser.

Risk of hospital infections should not be underestimated
For years, the German Society for Hospital Hygiene (DGKH) warns of the risks of a so-called hospital infection during hospital stays. The growing prevalence of the often multidrug-resistant hospital germs means that every year around 30,000 people suffer a fatal infection as part of hospital treatment, according to the DGKH. More than 600,000 people become infected annually with the dangerous hospital germs. The hygiene expert Klaus-Dieter Zastrow of the DGKH even assumes that at around „18 million patients in Germany at least four percent, ie 720,000 people, in the hospital with germs“ infect. Despite the frightening numbers, however, no uniform procedure for reducing hospital infections has yet been established. For example, some federal states have a so-called sanitary ordinance, which clearly dictates to the clinics what measures should be taken; in other federal states these are still lacking. Also, not every clinic in Germany has a corresponding hygiene management, because only from a size of 400 beds is the hiring of a hospital hygienist mandatory. In addition, the often frivolous use of antibiotics in numerous German clinics to date is highly controversial and contributes in the opinion of experts to the increased occurrence of multidrug-resistant hospital germs. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann