How Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens are Brought into Hospitals?

According to National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections estimates, up to 15,000 patients die of hospital-acquired infections in Germany every year. Here, multidrug-resistant bacteria, against which common antibiotics are no longer effective, play a major role.

But where do these pathogens come from? In largest study of its kind in Europe, DZIF scientists from the University of Cologne investigated this question and discovered that almost ten percent of patients admitted into hospitals already bring these dreaded pathogens along with them from home.

"We were surprised that on hospital admission almost every tenth patient is colonized with multidrug-resistant pathogens," explains Dr. Axel Hamprecht from the University of Cologne. He coordinated this study, in which six German university hospitals participated, together with Prof. Harald Seifert, also from the University of Cologne, and colleagues from Charité Berlin. Over 4,000 adults were tested for multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae on admission into hospital by means of stool samples or rectal swabs.

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Scientists Investigate How Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens are Brought into Hospitals

Source: Scicasts
Image credits: IMMIH, Köln/Hamprecht