Investigating the HFN1 virus
Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier and his colleagues around the world stopped their research into the bird flu virus H5N1 for a whole year to allow an international debate surrounding the benefits and risks of their work.
Prevention
Researchers pioneer treatment for viral infection
Researchers at Imperial College London have discovered a new way in which a very common childhood disease could be treated.
New price for hospital hygiene und infection prevention
In 2013, the Robert‐Koch‐Stiftung will for the first time award a prize for excellent scientific research and practical measures in the field of hospital hygiene und infection prevention. Healthcare institutions such as hospitals and rehabilitation facilities and research institutes as well as individuals are invited to apply for the prize which is endowed with 50,000 €.
Marriage reduces the risk of heart attack
A large population-based study from Finland has shown that being unmarried increases the risk of fatal and non-fatal heart attack in both men and women whatever their age.
MRSA, C Difficile, staphylococcus
A recent webinar, hosted by the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, featured doctors Duane Newton of the University of Michigan and Susan Novak-Weekly of Kaiser Permanente.
Surgical-site infections increase risk of blood clots
Despite receiving blood thinners and other clot prevention treatment, some patients still develop potentially lethal blood clots in the first month after their operations anyway, especially if they developed a surgical-site infection while in the hospital, according to results of a study at Johns Hopkins.
Article • Vaccination in Europe
Measles and whooping cough cases are on the rise
When country doctor Edward Jenner inoculated 8-year-old James Phipps with pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, little did he know that he had started a long lasting revolution in preventive medicine.
Battling against hospital acquired infections
Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are among the most common complications during a hospital and care home stay in the West (although they also occur in developing countries, with even an assumed higher incidence), causing enormous strain for those affected as well as high follow-on costs for healthcare systems.
A women's heart too often kills her
The biggest cause of death for most adult women in industrialised nations is coronary heart disease (CHD). Why the disease affects the genders differently is still not fully understood. European Hospital Editor Brigitte Dinkloh asked Professor Rafaelle Bugiardini MD FESC, from the Department of Internal Medicine Department, University of Bologna, whether he could explain the reasons and what…
W.A.R. against wound infections
Prevention is better than a fight against an infected wound – but, to avoid a battle you must know your enemy – and the wound’s infection risk level. Unfortunately, there are no generally accepted definitions for those risk levels. Now, the introduction of a new clinical assessment score – named W.A.R. (wound at risk) – which makes standardised classification of ‘risky’ wounds…
German breast screening
Germany’s mammography screening programme, introduced in 2005, was rolled out across the country in 2009 for women between the ages of 50 and 69 years. The mammo screening coordination office, which heads up and monitors the country’s 94 screening units, has published for the first time an evaluation report with follow-up examinations after a twoyear period.
Perspectives on healthcare inequality
For some, ‘life’s a bitch’ with unfairness and suffering an integral part of it. Many more people actually do not expect any better than the barrenness and misery in which they live, EH Malta Correspondent Moira Mizzi reflects.
Centre Hospitalier de Rambouillet
Copper and its alloys reduce the rate of nosocomial infections in hospitals by 40%, according to an American study led by Michael Schmidt (University of South Carolina). For the first time in France, one hospital near Paris chose to bet on the antibacterial quality of copper on commonly touched items to lower risks of HAIs, which annually claim 3,500 lives in the country – comparable to the…
The contact killer
Bacteria, viruses and fungi are killed on copper surfaces within seconds. This powerful germicidal effect, termed ‘contact killing’, is increasingly noted by hospitals due to several recent studies that confirm its antimicrobial effects.
System identifies more pathogens and antimicrobial resistances than any other
By integrating all necessary pre-analytical and analytical steps into one solution, the recently CE-marked Unyvero system, which is now commercially available in Europe, provides pathogen identification and antibiotic resistance marker information without needing expert staff and a sophisticated infrastructure, its manufacturer Curetis reports. Of even greater interest is its range of targets.
1920s drug shifts into today’s alcohol addiction arena
EH Paris correspondent Annick Chapoy, reports on a French study that confirms the relevance of a drug with a long history in the management of other diseases
Lung screening will come – maybe even with MRI?
After breast screening and prostate screening there is currently a lively discussion around the introduction of a lung cancer screening programme in Europe. Study results from the US appear to back up the supporters of this early detection of cancer for smokers. Prof. Dr Jürgen Biederer, Consultant and head of the Division of Pulmonary Radiology at the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional…
Oral vaccination against pancreatic tumours
The world’s first gene cancer therapy study of an innovative oral vaccine is underway at the Surgical Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital.
The vicissitudes of breast screening
The benfit of breast cancer screening for women over aged 50 is beyond doubt. However, what does a systematic search yield for breast cancer in women aged between 40 and 49? This question, which remains controversial, was raised again at ECR 2012.
Manufacturers, please!
For 100% safety, medical product should be better labelled. While legislators, regulatory authorities and certification bodies stipulate that manufacturers should provide clear information, in reality this is not always the case, as explained by orthopaedic surgeon Jan A de Lint MD, of the Amphia Hospital in Breda and Kliniek Zestienhoven in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since the German…
One in six people will have a stroke, but most strokes can be prevented
The theme of this year's World Stroke Day on 29 October is "One in Six", referring to the facts that one in six people will have a stroke at some point in their lifetime, and that a stroke will be the cause of someone's death every six seconds. These, says the World Stroke Organization (WSO), are everyday people leading everyday lives, but around 85% of them will have risk factors…
Trivialising breast cancer kills women
‘As we become more successful in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer, we tend to trivialise it. Yet one in 9 women still get breast cancer. Half of them become depressed, their partners don’t know how to react and their families are in disarray. We need to stop trivialising breast cancer. It kills women.’ So says Dr Fabienne Liebens, Head of the Saint-Pierre Hospital’s…
Breast screening in the UK
Expert warns that breast screening across the country needs to undergo a dramatic transformation over the next 15 years, Mark Nicholls reports.
World Health Summit 2011
The World Health Summit, to be held in Berlin on October 10 - 13, 2010 will bring together researchers, physicians, leading government officials and representatives from industry as well as from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and health care systems. Its aim is to address the most pressing issues that medicine and health care systems will face over the next decade and beyond and to develop…
