19 KNOWLEDGE Sources: 1. Barmer (2021). Barmer Krankenhausreport 2021. https://www.bifg.de/publikationen/reporte/krankenhausreport-2021 (accessed on 20.04.2022). 2. Weiner-Lastinger LM et al. (2022) The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on healthcare-associated infections in 2020: A summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol;43: 12-25. 3. Baker MA et al. (2021) The Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare-Associated Infections. Clin Infect Dis;ciab688. 4. Rosenthal VD et al. (2022) The impact of COVID-19 on healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units in low and middle income countries: International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) findings. Int J Infect Dis: S1201-9712(22)00120-5. 5. APIC (2021) https://apic.org/news/statement-from-apic-president-ann-marie-pettis-bsn-rn-cic-fapic-about-hai-increases/ (accessed on 02.03.2022) 6. Rebmann T et al. (2021) Infection preventionists‘ experiences during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from focus groups conducted with Association of Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology (APIC) members. Am J Infect Control;49: 1093–1098. 7. Hirose R et al. (2022) Differences in environmental stability among SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern: Omicron has higher stability. Preprint (Stand: 02.02.2022); bioRXiv. 8. WHO (2021) https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-similarities-and-differences-with-influenza (accessed on 02.03.2022) 9. Robert Koch-Institut, Epidemiologisches Bulletin 39/2021. https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Infekt/EpidBull/Archiv/2021/Ausgaben/39_21.pdf?__blob=publicationFile (accessed on 02.03.2022) How can we prevent “flurona”? The neologism “flurona” refers to the double infection with influenza (“flu”) and “corona”. Although rarely observed, it is theoretically possible to be infected with both pathogens at the same time. However, it is unclear what this means for the severity of the disease. The best way to prevent severe courses is to vaccinate against both diseases [8]. The good news: according to the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO), there is no longer a time interval between COVID-19 vaccinations and other inactivated vaccines. They can be given simultaneously, but should usually be injected into different limbs [9]. Hygiene and infection prevention remain important! To counteract the trend of rising HAI rates, measures such as hand and surface disinfection remain enormously important. Incidentally, this applies not only to typical hospital pathogens, but also to SARS-CoV-2. A recent preprint study shows that omicron is significantly more stable on surfaces and the skin than the original or the delta variant [7]. In addition to hand disinfection, surface disinfection could also become more relevant again for containing the virus. Median survival in hours[7] Original variant Alpha variant Delta variant Omikron variant Original variant Alpha variant Delta variant Omikron variant 250 200 150 100 50 0 25 20 15 10 5 0 56 191.3 114 193.5 8.6 19.6 16.8 21.1 Plastic surfaces Skin
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