[Managing EHEC in hospital routine]

During May and June 2011 an outbreak of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) occurred in Germany. More than 4000 patients were infected of which 800 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) as a severe complication. Reports in the press led to great concern in the general population. Many people with diarrhea reported to hospitals in order to exclude EHEC infections.

We describe the management of patients with suspected infectious diarrhea at the university hospital of Essen. A hospital with a significant number of immunocompromised patients.

One important measure to handle the surge of contagious patients was to establish a multidisciplinary coordination team under leadership and guidance of the Department of Nephrology and the Department of Hospital Hygiene. Suspected infectious patients were separated in a modified emergency room. A new ward for infectious diseases was established to isolate in-patients.

In our hospital the management of EHEC outbreak enabled us to treat these additional infectious patients without hampering the treatment of the other patients. As a result we plan the implementation of a coordination team for future epidemics.