Universitätsmedizin Berlin’s Rasmus Leistner Recognized with Awards for Infectious Disease Research
With the Young Investigator Award, ESCMID honors Dr. Leistner’s holistic approach, in which he draws on information from microbiological diagnostics, clinical courses, patient-related ICD codes and antibiotic consumption. Based on this data, he carries out epidemiological analyzes of pathogen-host interactions. This allows, for example, important differences between different pathogens, their resistance to antibiotics and the associated effects on the outcome of therapy to be examined. His work has been published in journals such as Critical Care and Clinical Microbiology and Infection . The award ceremony took place at the ESCMID Congress on April 27th in Barcelona.
Hygiene award for study on environmental cleaning
In addition, Rasmus Leistner was awarded the Rudolf Schülke Foundation’s 2024 Hygiene Prize in March for his research work on preventing hospital infections. These so-called nosocomial infections are usually caused by pathogens that patients bring with them to the hospital. But they can also be transmitted in the hospital. If these pathogens enter the body, they can cause infections.
In their study, Dr. Leistner and his colleagues compared conventional surface cleaning agents with a new group of substances, probiotic cleaning agents. Probiotic cleaning agents are already used in hospitals worldwide and are characterized by their environmental compatibility and long-lasting cleaning effects. They consist of so-called good bacteria that displace disease-causing bacteria on hospital surfaces through biological competition.
The results of this randomized, controlled study showed that all three cleaning agents are equally effective in preventing nosocomial infections in normal wards. So there is nothing wrong with replacing conventional cleaning products with more environmentally friendly probiotic cleaners.
Recognition for excellence in research
Rasmus Leistner works as an internist and infectiologist at the Benjamin Franklin Campus of the Charité and previously worked at the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at the Charité. There he completed his habilitation in 2017 on the epidemiology of multi-resistant pathogens.
The Rudolf Schülke Foundation’s Hygiene Prize honors people whose work makes a decisive contribution to developments in infection prevention and public health. It is endowed with 15,000 euros and was awarded in splits this year. The ESCMID Young Investigator Award recognizes excellence in research and comes with prize money of 5,000 euros.