The Institute contributes to the optimal clinical care of infectious patients through a consultative service, a specialized outpatient clinic for infectious patients, and an antibiotic stewardship program.

Since the end of 2018, the institute also offers external medical colleagues the opportunity for further training for the additional title "Clinical Infectiology". Currently, four physicians from other Thuringian hospitals are completing this training.

In September 2019, the German Quality Alliance Sepsis (DQS) project, originally located in the CSCC, was affiliated to the institute. Since 2021, the "Systems Biology of Sepsis" group headed by Prof. Dr. Rainer König and the group of Dr. Carolin Fleischmann-Struzek are also part of the institute.

Prof. Dr. Mathias W. Pletz
Am Klinikum 1, 07747 Jena

Institute of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control

The sample distribution and the epidemiological data can be tracked on a daily basis.

Research projects

ThEpiCAP: Epidemiology of community acquired pneumonia in Thuringia

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Mathias Pletz
Pfizer 2019-2023

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide and is associated with high mortality. Nevertheless, there are no German population-based valid epidemiological data on incidence and long-term consequences. The aim of the ThEpiCAP study is to assess the population-based incidence of hospitalized patients with CAP. Within the scope of the study, all patients with CAP in the hospitals in Jena (UKJ), Gera (SRH Wald-Klinikum Gera) and Suhl (SRH Zentralklinikum Suhl) will be recorded over a period of 24 months. In addition to demographic data, multiplex PCR for pathogen detection from respiratory secretions and a serotype-specific pneumococcal test from urine are performed, among others. Accurate incidence rates and precise studies of the underlying pathogen are important to estimate the proportion of disease that would be potentially preventable by vaccination. Epidemiologic data generated from the study can serve as the basis for future vaccine efficacy studies and ultimately lead to evidence-based vaccination recommendations. A total of more than 2000 patients are expected to be included.

3DecontaminAid: 3D-supported automated decontamination of complex surfaces

Design study and schematic representation of the “3DecontaminAid” disinfection robot platform for contactless surface disinfection by UV radiation

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. Frank Kipp
BMBF 2020-2023

The aim of the project is to develop an autonomous robot that will use automated environment and object recognition to perform selective and surface-specific decontamination of relevant near-patient contact surfaces with high touch frequency (surfaces such as handles, switches, near-patient medical devices) using UV radiation.

The primary goal is to develop, in cooperation with the project partners, a prototype that can function in a real environment, and to achieve a technical realization of 3D space and object recognition that is suitable for everyday use, as well as sufficient disinfection performance using UV-C.

CoNAN study: CoVID-19 outbreak in Neustadt am Rennsteig, Germany

Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr Mathias Pletz, PD Dr. Sebastian Weis

Thuringia 2020 - 2021

Neustadt am Rennsteig is a village in the Ilm district in central Thuringia. At the beginning of March 2020, Covid-19 cases occurred in increasing numbers in the municipality. As a result, a 14-day quarantine was imposed on the village by the district office. This may have prevented further spread within the village as well as to neighbouring communities. To determine seroconversion, infection rates, and investigate possible chains of infection, we conducted a point prevalence study in Neustadt am Rennsteig in May 2020, which showed that half of the PCR-confirmed infected individuals had no detectable specific antibodies by 6 weeks later. Follow-up studies are planned.

The study is conducted in collaboration with the Institutes of Medical Microbiology (Prof. Löffler), Immunology (Prof. Kamradt), Clinical Chemistry (PD Kiehntopf) and the Risk Communication Working Group (PD Dickmann, Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine).

TIPAT Training towards Innovative Personalized Antibiotic Therapy

Research approach of the TIPAT consortium: The combination of knowledge about the host, the pathogen and the drug exposure should enable personalized treatments in the future.

Principle Investigators: Prof. Dr. Mathias Pletz, Dr. Oliwia Makarewicz

EU 2020 - 2024

TIPAT is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Training Network (ITN) of the European Commission and offers a state-of-the-art training-by-research program for 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) / PhD students. At IIMK, two PhD students have been completing their doctoral theses since 01/09/2020 (ESR 5 and ESR 13).

Project ESR 5 deals with the development and validation of a clinical assay for the determination of minimal biofilm eradicating concentration of active compounds (MBEC). The goal is to determine the efficacy of antibiotic therapy in the initial diagnosis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis patients and correlate it with disease progression. Thus, a biofilm-based MBEC assay could help individualize and optimize therapy for biofilm-associated infections in the future.

In the ESR13 project, the interplay between bacterial biofilm-associated chronic infections and host response and antibiotic therapy will be investigated. The aim is to identify biomarkers that help to monitor the efficacy of therapy in biofilm-associated infections.

SMITH - Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare

Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Mathias Pletz, PD Dr. Stefan Hagel

BMBF 20218 - 2021

The aim of the project is to establish quality-assured, structured digital medical documentation that links care and research data. The newly established data integration centres at the participating university hospitals in Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Essen, Halle, Hamburg-Eppendorf, Jena, Leipzig and Rostock will support structured medical and study documentation in the clinical and research systems, store data and documents for processing and analysis in internationally standardized formats and exchange them across institutions using internationally standardized communication and security procedures. The IT infrastructure will be further developed at Jena University Hospital to make that routine medical data accessible to research and provide retrospectively data for decision support systems by different applications. The task of the IIMK lies in the HELP module, especially in the data collection from selected wards and validation of the HELP app.

Further projects

PREPLEX: AI-assisted assay development for phenotypic carbapenem resistance by porin loss and efflux overexpression in Gram-negative bacteria

Principal Investigator: Dr. Oliwia Makarewicz

BMBF (Infectognostics) 2020 – 2025
DRESI: Rapid and precise diagnosis and resistance testing of sepsis pathogens in intensive care units

Principal Investigator: Dr. Oliwia Makarewicz

BMBF 2020-2023
VanEndUV: Validated reprocessing of thermolabile endoscopes with UV-LEDs

Principal Investigators: Prof. Rainer König, Prof. Dr. Frank Kipp

BMBF 2020-2023
DePhage: Pilot study to investigate the effectiveness of phages in decolonizing gastrointestinal carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella sp. and the role of phages in resistance gene transfer

Principal Investigator: Dr. Oliwia Makarewicz

BMBF (CSCC) 2019 - 2020
PbR: Development of a modular multiplex detection system for plasmid-based antibiotic resistance monitoring

Principal Investigator: Dr. Oliwia Makarewicz

Thuringia (EFRE) 2019 - 2022

Selected publications

Weis, S., et al. Antibody response using six different serological assays in a completely PCR-tested community after a coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak-the CoNAN study. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2021 Mar;27(3):470.e1-470.e9
Stein, C., et al. Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae with low chlorhexidine susceptibility. Lancet Infect Dis. 2019 Sep;19(9):932-933.
König, R., et al. Macrolide combination therapy for patients hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia? An individualised approach supported by machine learning. Eur Respir J, 2019. 54(6)
Thieme, L., et al. In vivo synergism of ampicillin, gentamicin, ceftaroline and ceftriaxone against Enterococcus faecalis assessed in the Galleria mellonella infection model. J Antimicrob Chemother, 2020. 75(8): p. 2173-2181
Heimes, E., et al. Effect of Antiviral Therapy on the Outcome of Mechanically Ventilated Patients With Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 in BAL Fluid: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Chest, 2020. 158(5): p. 1867-1875

Outstanding achievements

Since the pandemic, the institute has taken the lead in completing 2 clinical trials on seroprevalence in staff and residents of the "hot spot" village of Neustadt am Rennsteig (supported by the state government). The institute is also participating with the NanoPore technology platform in the sequencing of SARS-CoV-19 genomes within the NFDI4Microbiota COVID-19 and DeCOI national networks and the New Coronavirus Surveillance Regulation of the Federal Ministry of Health. The IIDIC is also represented in the National Network of University Medicine with its own projects.

Prof. Mathias Pletz is a member of the WHO Guidance Group COVID-19 for Infection Prevention, the International Task Force COVID-19 of the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert Koch Institute as well as the State Crisis Staff and the Scientific Corona Advisory Board of Thuringia.

Prof. Pletz was elected Vice President of the Paul Ehrlich Society in 2020.