Although we were unable to identify whether the bundle, one of its components, or procedural improvements are responsible for the success of the intervention, our study indicates that the applied approach is feasible and is accompanied by a significant reduction of in-hospital mortality in the secondary care setting. The intervention may serve as a model for other hospitals with similar structures and baseline situations.

ABS programmes can be effective in community hospitals and may help establish ecologically advantageous antibiotic strategies when needed.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with a potentially severe clinical manifestation, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and currently poses a worldwide challenge. Health care workers (HCWs) are at the forefront of any health care system and thus especially at risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection due to their potentially frequent and close contact with patients suffering from COVID-19. Serum samples from 198 HCWs with direct patient contact of a regional medical center and several outpatient facilities were collected during the early phase of the pandemic (April 2020) and tested for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Commercially available IgA- and IgG-specific ELISAs were used as screening technique, followed by an in-house neutralization assay for confirmation. Neutralizing SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies were detected in seven of 198 (3.5%) tested HCWs. There was no significant difference in seroprevalence between the regional medical center (3.4%) and the outpatient institution (5%). The overall seroprevalence of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in HCWs in both a large regional medical center and a small outpatient institution was low (3.5%) at the beginning of April 2020. The findings may indicate that the timely implemented preventive measures (strict hygiene protocols, personal protective equipment) were effective to protect from transmission of an airborne virus when only limited information on the pathogen was available.

The detection of living microorganisms in the blood of a patient is of major diagnostic and prognostic importance. Blood cultures are the goldstandard in the diagnosis of BSIs (bloodstream infections). The "How to do: Blood culture collection" article provides a step-by-step approach to this method. The importance of obtaining blood cultures, indications and common pitfalls are explained in this teaching manuscript.

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