Resistant bacteria in German hospitals

Resistant bacteria

Resistant bacteria in German hospitals - an underestimated danger? MRSA: multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus calls for 40,000 deaths every year in Germany, according to media reports

In the media, the topic is still present and individual deaths are presented in detail. Due to the abuse process of the cult leader Oliver Shanti is currently another pathogen threat in the public eye. The accused, whose real name is Ulrich S., must sit in a glass case with mouth and nose protection and a white full-body protective suit. The reason is that it carries the transmissible agent MRSA (methicillin / oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), with which the cancer patient in the hospital has become infected.

After a report of the WDR in „the story“ with the title „Killerbrut- The secret disaster“ As of October 26, 2009, 1.5 million people are infected with bacteria every year in German hospitals. With a population of approximately 82 million people in Germany, this is a considerable number. Of these, 40,000 infections are fatal. For comparison, the A / H1N1 virus has so far infected 172,000 people, of whom 66 have died (weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute on 48 KW).

The author of the WDR contribution, Meike Hemschemeier, has researched that patients from German hospitals in the Netherlands are first quarantined. She gives as reasons for the high infection and death rate in connection with the infections „irresponsible use of antibiotics, drowsiness in clinics, cover-up, ignorance and the lack of political will at federal and state level to change the disastrous conditions“ on. It comes to this conclusion, because there are also positive examples: Denmark, the Netherlands and in Germany, the University of Münster should have managed to take successful measures against this danger.

If you look at the website of the German Society for Hospital Hygiene e.V. (DGKH), you can download numerous information there, such as the „Measures package for MRSA in health facilities“,on which very specific guidelines for prevention and in dealing with acute clinical pictures are given. Furthermore, the portal offers a report „Sick in the hospital“ from 2007, the Allianz Germany AG created together with the DGKH, as a PDF file. Also there is held that weighty reasons „lack of training, overwork and lack of motivation by superiors“ for neglect in hygiene. Because the „Home transfer is via the hands of medical staff“.

Of course, antibiotic-resistant germs are increasingly found there, where antibiotics are used. It is believed that these bacteria have been able to spread in the last 20 years as antibiotic use continues to spread.

Wikipedia cites other reasons:
„However, the emergence of resistance to antibiotics is also favored by the use of detergents containing so-called quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) with a disinfecting effect. Because the same genes of the bacteria, which provide the QAV resistance, also give them the resistance to antibiotics. Critical substances include most commercially available cationic surfactants. The same applies to triclosan, which is used as a disinfectant and preservative in household cleaners, detergents, toothpastes, deodorants and soaps.“ The pathogen MRSA, for example, probably has a so-called antibiotic resistance gene and can form enzymes that break down penicillin.

The authors of the "Ill in the hospital" report come to the conclusion after the evaluation of a report of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (EARSS) “antibiotic-bacterial resistance continues to rise sharply and that more people will probably get sick or even die from it. "According to the publications on the subject, there should be infections especially in intensive care areas and in the treatment of chronic patients.

In 2005, a task force was established on the subject, but the results still do not seem satisfactory. If one compares the numbers of treatment-resistant infections with those of, for example, swine flu, a more extensive information policy by state institutions and the media is needed in order to improve the situation in the future in the interests of the clinic patients. (Tf)