Krankenhaushygiene 2.0: Schnittstellenübergreifende, molekularepidemiologische Frühwarnsysteme für die Prävention multiresistenter Erreger

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens and their inpatient (nosocomial) and outpatient spread, pose increasing challenges to our healthcare system. Control strategies are derived from vertical (individual, pathogen-specific) and horizontal (general, pathogen-unspecific) preventive measures. The discussion of a competing “either or” has not proven to be effective in the past. In addition, the problem of multidrug-resistant pathogens cannot be solved solely in inpatient health care: the goals are a seamless communication and transparent cooperation between all actors in the healthcare system. Nowadays, modern molecular methods for pathogen typing are available, with the help of which transmission pathways can be clarified and hospital hygiene measures can be efficiently controlled. These procedures will be used increasingly more in the future to combat the problem of multidrug resistance across interfaces within regional network structures.