[Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in long-term care facilities. German results of the third European point prevalence survey HALT-3].

Background And Objective: The essential role of infection prevention in long-term care facilities has become evident during the current SARS-CoV‑2 pandemic. In order to obtain a reliable database on nosocomial infections and antibiotic use, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) initiated the third point prevalence survey in European long-term care facilities from 2016 to 2017 (HALT-3).

Material And Methods: In Germany, 131 facilities with 10,565 residents participated voluntarily.

The largely unnoticed spread of PCR ribotype 027 in Germany after 2010.

In recent decades, incidence and severity of infection (CDI) has increased dramatically, coinciding with the emergence of hypervirulent strains such as PCR ribotype 027 (RT027). Data on prevalence of distinct strains in random CDI cases in Germany are scarce. The aim of this review was to obtain an overview of prevalence and geographical distribution of RT027 among clinical isolates from random cases in non-outbreak settings in hospitals in Germany.