Multi-resistant germs at Kiel Hospital

Germs introduced at the University Hospital of Turkey vacationers

02/19/2015

After several patients with the multidrug-resistant bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii became infected at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel, extensive isolation and additional hygiene measures were initiated. The health department in Kiel and the responsible ministry are informed. The source of infection was a patient previously hospitalized in Turkey for another serious illness and later transferred to Kiel University Hospital.

In 31 patients were at Kiel University Hospital according to the news agency „dpa“ proven the multi-resistant pathogens. 13 sufferers have died in the meantime, ten of them, however, in their previous illnesses. The detected germ is according to the message of the hospital „to the gram-negative pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, which belongs to the group of so-called nonfermentersheard and ubiquitous, i. theoretically occurring throughout the environment.“ In Western Europe and the US, about two to ten percent of hospital infections (nosocomial infections) are caused by this multidrug-resistant germ. The identified outbreak strain is according to the information provided by the clinic „has become resistant to various antibiotics and is thus called so-called 4MRGNclassified.“

All infections caused by a pathogen strain
The information of the news agency „dpa“ According to the report, it has since been confirmed that the colonizations and infections detected at the Kiel University Hospital in December and January are due to the same pathogen strain. The genome of the pathogens has now been decrypted, the announcement of the „dpa“ citing Professor Andre Franke from the University of Schleswig-Holstein. The bacterium was introduced by a German tourist in Turkey. The same tribe, according to the announcement of the „dpa“ in Germany for the first time in 2009 in the Dortmund area. In 2010 and 2011, the pathogens in the Cologne area were found in several patients.

Threatening pneumonia, blood poisoning and urinary tract infections
Although the multidrug-resistant pathogens have been detected in numerous patients at Kiel University Hospital in the meantime, colonization is not the same as an infection. While the germs healthy people can not be dangerous according to the hospital, there is an increased risk of infection for immunocompromised people or critically ill patients in intensive care units, such as in the form of pneumonia, blood poisoning, urinary tract or wound infection. According to the Kiel University Hospital, transmission of the pathogens takes place predominantly via direct contact and entry into the body, but under certain circumstances it can also take place aerogenically, ie via the air, for example if the germs have caused pneumonia. In a pure colonization of the skin no aerogen transmission is possible, reports the University Hospital on.

Infection numbers are updated daily
In order to prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant pathogens, all patients with a positive finding were isolated at the University Hospital Kiel and all contact persons were also examined for an infestation. „Possible contact patients were and will be screened and isolated on positive detection“, so the message of the hospital. However, it will take a few days for the laboratory certificate to be available. Therefore, the numbers would be updated in daily briefings. In the case of an infection, the treatment with the antibiotic colistin can take place according to information of the hospital after an antibiotic resistance determination.

Close-meshed screenings required
The news agency „dpa“ however, citing Professor Trinad Chakraborty of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University Hospital Giessen and Marburg, reports that it is only a matter of time before the pathogens become resistant to colistin. In this case, the obsolete antibiotic tobramycin would be available as a last resort, according to Franke and Professor Helmut Fickenscher, director of the Institute of Infection Medicine, in the article by the Institute for Infection Medicine „dpa“. In order to better prevent the spread of multidrug-resistant germs in the future, tighter screenings are required when patients are hospitalized. However, this raises the question of reimbursement. „The clinics receive so-called case lump sums for each patient, but screenings are not included separately“, quotes the „dpa“ Prof. Fickenscher. (Fp)