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Combating Deadly Bacteria
Hospitals Have Hope in Dutch 'Search and Destroy' Strategy
Every day, several people die in German hospitals after being infected with bacteria resistant to most antibiotics. Though the threat is growing, a strategy long-used in the Netherlands is catching on and raising hopes.
When Germans are admitted into Dutch hospitals, they are usually surprised to learn that they will be placed under quarantine. Doctors and nurses will only approach them after donning protective gowns, gloves and surgical masks.
In the Netherlands, Germans are considered an infection risk because their hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and dialysis stations back home are full of so-called "multiresistant pathogens" -- in other words, bacteria that have grown resistant to almost all antibiotics.
In particular, the "killer bug" MRSA -- short for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- has become almost commonplace in German hospitals, where it infects one in 70 patients in the average intensive care unit (ICU).
Likewise, although MRSA infections are starting to level off -- albeit at a high level -- there has been a marked increase in so-called ESBL-producing intestinal bacteria (with ESBL being an abbreviation of "extended spectrum beta-lactamase"). These bacteria produce an enzyme that can destroy penicillins, cephalosporins and other antibiotics.
Indeed, the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's leading institution for disease control and prevention, estimates that the country sees at least four unnecessary deaths every day as a result of infections acquired in hospitals.
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"Actively searching for the bacteria and then targeting and destroying them is our only chance," says Alexander Friedrich, a senior physician at the Institute for Hygiene at UKM hospital in Münster, Germany.
Friedrich believes that the search-and-destroy strategy used in the Netherlands should serve as a model for others. With it, the Dutch have managed to keep their MRSA rates extremely low over the last two decades.
Read more (english)
Hospitals Have Hope in Dutch 'Search and Destroy' Strategy
Every day, several people die in German hospitals after being infected with bacteria resistant to most antibiotics. Though the threat is growing, a strategy long-used in the Netherlands is catching on and raising hopes.
When Germans are admitted into Dutch hospitals, they are usually surprised to learn that they will be placed under quarantine. Doctors and nurses will only approach them after donning protective gowns, gloves and surgical masks.
In the Netherlands, Germans are considered an infection risk because their hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and dialysis stations back home are full of so-called "multiresistant pathogens" -- in other words, bacteria that have grown resistant to almost all antibiotics.
In particular, the "killer bug" MRSA -- short for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- has become almost commonplace in German hospitals, where it infects one in 70 patients in the average intensive care unit (ICU).
Likewise, although MRSA infections are starting to level off -- albeit at a high level -- there has been a marked increase in so-called ESBL-producing intestinal bacteria (with ESBL being an abbreviation of "extended spectrum beta-lactamase"). These bacteria produce an enzyme that can destroy penicillins, cephalosporins and other antibiotics.
Indeed, the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's leading institution for disease control and prevention, estimates that the country sees at least four unnecessary deaths every day as a result of infections acquired in hospitals.
- snip -
"Actively searching for the bacteria and then targeting and destroying them is our only chance," says Alexander Friedrich, a senior physician at the Institute for Hygiene at UKM hospital in Münster, Germany.
Friedrich believes that the search-and-destroy strategy used in the Netherlands should serve as a model for others. With it, the Dutch have managed to keep their MRSA rates extremely low over the last two decades.
Read more (english)