Correspondence (letter to the editor): Progressively Reduce the Number of Infections

The authors refer to the demand of the German Society for Hospital Hygiene (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene, DGKH) for a “Zero Infections” campaign in Germany. They come to the conclusion that even now reductions in the rate of nosocomial infections much higher than the usually quoted 20 to 30% could be achieved for certain interventions (1).

However, the implementation of the DGKH demand is not as close as the authors seem to believe. The goal of the Zero Infections campaign is to establish awareness of hospital-acquired infection in society in the long term and to progressively reduce the number of these infections. The vision of eliminating nosocomial infections is primarily a political demand and cannot be tested with clinical evidence. Nosocomial infections are never a matter of “fate”, as some expert witnesses presume to claim.

Lowering the rate of nosocomial infections will require not only measures to enhance hygiene but also improvements in building design (e.g., more single rooms) and in staffing levels (e.g., 1:2 or 1:1 care in intensive care units), new medical devices, or new treatments. We all need to get involved and contribute original ideas.

Other segments of our society have long adopted “Vision Zero”: examples are road traffic (reduction of annual road deaths from more than 20 000 in the 1970s to well under 4000 today), occupational safety, and aviation. The German Traffic Safety Council (Deutscher Verkehrssicherheitsrat) has been committed to Vision Zero since 2007: “Life is not negotiable.” The German Social Accident Insurance (Deutsche gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, DGUV) says: “We align our prevention strategy clearly with Vision Zero.” And Lufthansa follows the maxim: “Imagine your child is on board!” If we healthcare workers were to base our decisions on this principle, we would not go within a mile of some hospitals—often including our own.