The greatest risk factor for patients to acquire primary sepsis is vascular catheters — for example peripheral and central venous catheters or urinary catheters. Sepsis is among the most serious nosocomial infections, with a significant increase in length of hospital stay and a comparatively high mortality rate. The German Commission for Hospital Hygiene and Infectious Disease Prevention (KRINKO) published recommendations that can be found under Prevention of device-associated infection.
The initiative Deutschland erkennt Sepsis (Germany recognises sepsis), which is supported by the German Federal Government, is concerned with the recognition and control of sepsis in the population. The international counterpart is part of a World Health Organization (WHO) prevention campaign and can be found here.
