Recommendation of the German Society of Hospital Hygiene (DGKH): Prevention of COVID-19 by virucidal gargling and virucidal nasal spray - updated version April 2022.

The German Society of Hospital Hygiene develops guidelines, recommendations and standard operation procedures on a voluntary basis, published on the DGKH-website (https://www.krankenhaushygiene.de/).

[Children with acute respiratory tract infections in pediatric hospitals in autumn/winter 2020/2021].

Due to the shortage of pediatric hospital beds in general and due to the large annual burden of hospital admissions for common respiratory tract infections, such as influenza or RSV [respiratory syncytial virus] in particular, it can be expected that hospitalization of children with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV‑2 infections will face hospitals with an even more tense situation than usual in the winter 2020/2021. This tenuous shortage may touch various aspects but in the first place it will affect isolation and cohorting. In addition, this shortage will not only apply to acutely ill children with viral respiratory tract infections but all children with need for hospital care, either chronically ill or e.

Measures to maintain regular operations and prevent outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 in childcare facilities or schools under pandemic conditions and co-circulation of other respiratory pathogens.

After the lockdown and the end of the summer holidays, day-cares and schools need to be reopened and (despite the continued circulation of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2) kept open. The need for opening up arises from the right of children to education, participation, support and care. This is possible if appropriate hygiene measures are implemented and community transmission remains stable.

Children and adolescents in the CoVid-19 pandemic: Schools and daycare centers are to be opened again without restrictions. The protection of teachers, educators, carers and parents and the general hygiene rules do not conflict with this.

In the opinion of the medical societies of hygiene and pediatrics undersigning the present statement, the analyses published to date regarding transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the course of CoVid-19 show that children play a much less significant role in the spread of the virus than do adults. According to the findings available to date, not only do children and adolescents less frequently fall ill with CoVid-19, they also generally become less severely ill than do adults. The vast majority of infections in children and adolescents are asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic.

Calculated initial parenteral treatment of bacterial infections: Bacterial gastrointestinal infections.

This is the fourteenth chapter of the guideline "Calculated initial parenteral treatment of bacterial infections in adults - update 2018" in the 2 updated version. The German guideline by the Paul-Ehrlich-Gesellschaft für Chemotherapie e.V.

Calculated parenteral initial therapy of bacterial infections: Antibiotic treatment in the elderly.

This is the fifteenth chapter of the guideline "Calculated initial parenteral treatment of bacterial infections in adults - update 2018" in the 2 updated version. The German guideline by the Paul-Ehrlich-Gesellschaft für Chemotherapie e.V.

Air quality in the operating room: Surgical site infections, HVAC systems and discipline - position paper of the German Society of Hospital Hygiene (DGKH).

In recent years, there has been an ongoing discussion about the value of laminar airflow (LAF=low turbulence displacement ventilation) in the operating room for prevention of surgical site infections (SSI). Some publications, e.g.

[Specifics in antibiotic therapy for older adults].

Infectious diseases are still very common in older adults ad they are responsilble for nearly the most deaths in those patients. Especially geriatric patients show higher morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is very important to start antibiotic therapy as fast as possible after diagnosis.

[Rational Use of Antibiotics Data form a Survey from 2014 within the mrdo Network Compared to Nationwide Data from 2009].

Introduction: To combat multi-resistant gram-negative bacteria as the cause of life-threatening infections, antibiotic stewardship activities are of great importance.

Objective: To detect weaknesses when prescribing antibiotics in hospitals and compare the situation between 2009 and 2014.

Methods: In 2014, a questionnaire was sent to all 380 physicians employed in 7 hospitals.

AML versus ICU: outcome of septic AML patients in an intensive care setting.

Purpose: Intensive therapy regimens in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) frequently result in sepsis and septic shock. In this study, we investigated the prognostic outcome of AML patients requiring intensive care treatment due to severe sepsis or septic shock.

Design: We present a retrospective cohort study in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) of a university hospital that serves as a tertiary care center.

Infections in the elderly.

Infections have plagued humans since the beginning of recorded history. Huge segments of the human population were episodically wiped out by epidemic infectious diseases in past centuries. Infection was and is often the final cause of mortality in the debilitated elderly.

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis--a differential diagnosis of obesity. Is there a rationale for fibrate treatment?

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis (MSL) is characterized by a rapid progression of multiple, symmetric nonencapsulated fat masses in the face, neck, and extremities. The lipomas are thought to be the result of defective brown adipose tissue (BAT). In up to 90% MSL is associated with chronic alcohol abuse.

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis--a differential diagnosis of obesity: is there a rationale for fibrate treatment?

Multiple benign symmetric lipomatosis (MSL) is characterized by a rapid progression of multiple, symmetric nonencapsulated fat masses in face, neck, and extremities. The lipomas are thought to be the result of defective brown adipose tissue (BAT). In up to 90%, MSL is associated with chronic alcohol abuse.

Score-based immunoglobulin G therapy of patients with sepsis: the SBITS study.

Objective: Intravenous immunoglobulin as an adjunctive treatment in sepsis was regarded as promising by a Cochrane meta-analysis of smaller trials. In this phase III multicenter trial, we assessed whether intravenous immunoglobulin G (ivIgG) reduced 28-day mortality and improved morbidity in patients with score-defined severe sepsis.

Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial.

Rapid geographical clustering of wound botulism in Germany after subcutaneous and intramuscular injection of heroin.

Background: Wound infections due to Clostridium botulinum in Germany are rare and occur predominantly in heroin injectors, especially after subcutaneous or intramuscular injection of heroin ("skin popping"), which is contaminated with spores of C. botulinum. We report a rapid geographical clustering of cases in Germany in a region between Cologne, Bonn, and Aachen with wound botulism and consecutive systemic C.

Long-term effects of a multimodal approach including immunoadsorption for the treatment of myasthenic crisis.

A multimodal treatment protocol with immunoadsorption (IA) as the central element was used in the treatment of myasthenic crisis (MC). Fifteen patients with MC were treated in repeated, uninterrupted 7-day cycles until mobilization with: (i) large-volume IA using an antihuman-IgG adsorber, days 1-5; (ii) intravenous immunoglobulin substitution (0.3-0.

Treatment of acquired hemophilia by the Bonn-Malmo Protocol: documentation of an in vivo immunomodulating concept.

Acquired hemophilia (AH) is an extremely rare condition in which autoantibodies (inhibitors) against clotting factor VIII induce acute and life-threatening hemorrhagic diathesis because of abnormal blood clotting. The mortality rate of AH is as high as 16%, and current treatment options are associated with adverse side effects. We investigated a therapeutic approach for AH called the modified Bonn-Malmo Protocol (MBMP).

Pharmacorefractory status epilepticus due to low vitamin B6 levels during pregnancy.

We report a patient with pyridoxine-dependent epileptic seizures during early childhood. She had been completely seizure free for 23 years until she became pregnant. During the week 14 of her pregnancy, status epilepticus developed and was refractory to antiepileptic drugs but responded to intravenous administration of vitamin B6.