Ursel Heudorf

..However, health concern is raised regarding the developmental and/or reproductive toxicity of phthalates, even in environmental concentrations...

..The new regulation proved worthwhile...

..The German Commission on Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention has published several recommendations regarding hygiene in the intensive care unit. Compliance with these recommendations was surveyed...

..Quality outcome was neither associated with the number of the places for residents nor with staffing. Thus, not only quality of structure but also quality of process and outcome should be checked by the public health services...

..In this study, we quantify the internal exposure of AA and the genotoxic metabolite glycidamide (GA) in 110 children with regard to their exposure through diet and/or environmental tobacco smoke...

..Here, data on particulate matter in the indoor air of classrooms, before and after intensified cleaning, are reported...

..The objective of the study was to measure the indoor air quality in classrooms with special emphasis on particulate matter (PM 10) and carbon dioxide (CO(2)) and the impact of cleaning and ventilation...

..In two practices only, reprocessing according to the guidelines was seen. Infection control advice and repeated control of the public health department resulted in the correction of most processing faults within some months...

..However, data on indoor air quality have been lacking up to now. Here, the data on indoor air quality in a passive house school are presented...

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..Public health departments should support the hospitals in implementing good hand hygiene. This may be achieved by assessing the consumption of hand disinfectant and discussing the results with the hospitals...

..Both are mandatory...

..Examples of this strategy and data on its effect are given in this paper...

..Here, the data of the hygiene control visits to all operating units in clinics in Frankfurt/Main in 2007 are presented, and compared to the data obtained in 2000...

..The practicability of the criteria of McGeer et al. could be confirmed - with only slight modification - in a long-term care facility with electronic medical documentation...

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..Thus, the new KRINKO guideline in Frankfurt/M did not result in a wave of recruitment of health professionals, but at least resulted in organizational and structural improvements in hygiene...

..Only then can the aim of improving surveillance and reduction of nosocomial MRSA infection be achieved...

..Responsibility of the schools as well as of the individuals in the schools is demanded as well. More public attention to this topic seems mandatory, may be via a "signal light - red-yellow-green" for schools?..

..Infection control advice and the control of public health regulations resulted in the correction of most processing faults between 2003 and 2004...

..Hence the data of the special consultation hours of the public health department of Frankfurt am Main are reported and discussed with regard to possible improvements...

..Here, we report on internal exposure of children and young people, in an urban area in Germany, to pyrethroids and organophosphorus acids, assessed by the analysis of urinary levels of their corresponding specific metabolites...

..All these measures were approved by the Administrative Court. This case is reported and discussed with respect to the new infection control law with increased tasks in hygiene control for the Public Health services...

..In this paper the degree of implementation of these guidelines in the hospitals is studied in respect of the hygiene management in the operation theatre...

..In the 1980s, PCBs were prohibited by law in many industrialized countries. Hence, in recent years a steady decline in PCB levels has been seen. Here we report on PCB plasma levels in children and adults in Germany in 1998...

..In general, isolation of the colonised residents is not necessary, unless in very special individual cases...

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..3 microg/L; cis-Cl(2)CA, 0.5 microg/L; trans-Cl(2)CA, 1.5 microg/L; and F-PBA, 0.3 microg/L...

..Because the inhabitants of these flats were very concerned about the effects on their health, they were offered the opportunity to take part in biomonitoring examinations to assess individual internal PAH exposure...

..In special cases, however, individual exposures may be dominated by other sources, i.e. impregnated leather clothes...

..Here, a survey of current reprocessing practices in an urban region in Germany is published, covering all hospitals and private practices in this region...

..Some of the most relevant hygienic problems are today: wearing private clothing instead of special working clothes, or deficits in the knowledge of the management of MRSA-colonised residents...

..An extreme heat wave in August 2003 had caused thousands of deaths all over Europe. Suitable prevention measures were demanded. The heat-associated mortality in Frankfurt on the Main, Germany, in summer 2003 is here analysed and published...

..Thus, hygiene control visits of the public health services could focus on other practices such as ambulatory surgery or endoscopy...

..Therefore, the children's symptoms and complaints were analysed for association with PAH contamination in parquet glue and household dust as well as with internal exposure to PAHs via determination of 1-hydroxypyrene in urine samples...

..In addition to accidental poisoning, possible sources include indoor contamination following improper pest control operations in homes as well as in pets and food products contaminated by these pesticides...

..Therefore control visits of the Public Health Services should not only cover hygiene in reprocessing the endoscopes but also hygiene in reprocessing endoscopic accessories as well...

..3 and 0.27 microg/l, respectively. The metabolic pattern found for these samples points out that pyrethroids are probably ingested orally with daily diet...

..Therefore, the commission recommends the following upper margins of background exposures for adult non-smokers: 1-naphthol less than 30 microg/l, 2-naphthol less than 20 microg/l...

..Additionally, microbiological tests of the filtrate before disinfection by chlorination are recommended. This procedure has proved successful in legionella control...

..This observation calls for further investigation...

..The data obtained in 2004 to 2006 demonstrated that this method was very well accepted by the institutions and was readily appreciated as a tool for external quality assessment...

..300 to approx. 4,700. Since appropriate expansion of personnel was not possible, innovative solutions were in demand for implementation of these tasks. These are introduced here...

..In future, ranking of priorities for research and actions will be necessary, taking into account costs and effectiveness since resources to be invested into these issues certainly will remain limited...