Publications by authors named "E Piepenbrock"

Background: For Clostridioides difficile infections (CDIs) in Germany no longitudinal multi-centre studies with standardized protocols for diagnosing CDI are available. Recent evaluations of general surveillance databases in Germany indicate a downward trend in CDI rates. We aimed to describe the actual burden and trends of CDI in German university hospitals from 2016 to 2020.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how antibiotic use, particularly carbapenems, impacts the incidence of healthcare-associated Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) in a German university hospital over a three-year period.
  • A total of 225 wards provided data, revealing that the highest CDI rates were in haematology-oncology wards, with carbapenem usage significantly linked to increased infection rates specifically in that specialty.
  • Other factors, like ward specialty and the presence of previous CDI cases, were found to have a greater influence on CDI rates than antibiotic consumption alone.
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Embolic events are associated with increased mortality in patients with infective endocarditis (IE). The goal of this study was to gain experience with the application of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in IE to detect abdominal complications. CEUS was performed in 40 patients from a prospective register of IE.

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Transmission of Enterobacterales in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) can cause outbreaks of colonization and invasive infections among neonates. Two clusters of nosocomial transmission of identified by MALDI-ToF mass-spectrometry were suspected at two NICUs in July and August 2016. To assess the potential transmission of among neonates.

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Clostridium (Clostridioides) difficile ribotype 027 (RT027) was detected in Germany for the first time in 2007 during an outbreak in the region of Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate and is today the most prevalent ribotype (RT) in Europe. We aimed to determine the changes in RT distribution and corresponding antimicrobial resistance in clinical C. difficile isolates between two time points (2007 and 2017) in one tertiary care hospital in Germany.

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