Ordensklinikum Linz now has special outpatient clinics for infections

After heart attack and cancer, infection is the third most common cause of death in Austria. Around 7,000 people die from it every year, explained the medical director of the Linz Order Clinic, Stefan Meusburger. It is therefore only “logical” that “Austria’s first interdisciplinary center for infection medicine and microbiology” was built at his house. Among other things, special outpatient clinics are introduced and all specialist departments are integrated into the centre.

The center, which is managed by Petra Apfalter, forms the technical and organizational hub with the microbiological laboratory. In addition, there is a doctor responsible for infections in each department. “The center brings interdisciplinary microbiological diagnostics and therapy under one roof, from outpatient to inpatient,” Apfalter summarized the new structure at a press conference in Linz on Thursday.

In the outpatient area, this means that on certain days there are separate vaccination clinics for immunocompromised patients, outpatient clinics for people returning from travel or for diseases caused by Borrelia. This step was necessary because 80 percent of the patients were in the outpatient clinic because of a suspected Borrelia infection. But it is the “most misdiagnosed disease,” said the doctor. A positive antibody test and symptoms such as exhaustion and tiredness do not necessarily indicate an acute infection. Antibiotic therapy, as is usual with Lyme disease, is therefore not effective.

A focus of the center will also be to create guidelines for the administration of antibiotics to ensure careful use.