Bacterial contamination of the smartphones of healthcare workers in a German tertiary-care hospital before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Assuming that hygiene measures have improved significantly due to COVID-19, we aimed to investigate bacterial colonization on smartphones (SPs) owned by healthcare workers (HCWs) before and during the pandemic.

Methods: Employing a before-and-after study design, randomly selected HCWs were included. Devices underwent sampling under real-life conditions, without prior manipulation.

Low colonization rates with Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria in a German hospital-affiliated hemodialysis center.

Background: Multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDRGN) are found with rising prevalence in non-hemodialysis risk populations as well as hemodialysis (HD) cohorts in Asia, Europe and North America. At the same time, colonization and consecutive infections with such pathogens may increase mortality and morbidity of affected individuals. We aimed to monitor intestinal MDRGN colonization in a yet not investigated German HD population.

[Consumption of antibiotics in a burns intensive care unit].

Introduction: Burn-injured patients are at particularly high risk of infection; as such one would expect an increased requirement of antibiotics compared to other intensive care patients. There is no data in the literature investigating this hypothesis in Germany. The aim of this study was to determine the antibiotic consumption in severe burn patients and to compare this data with those from surgical intensive care units.