Infectious Diseases Epidemiology

Research Group Philipp Kohler, MD MSc

Antibiotic resistance and nosocomial infections are the focus of our research activities.

Current activities

Epidemiology of antibiotic resistant pathogens

One of our research focus is antibiotic resistance. What are the temporal dynamics of certain resistant pathogens? Which patient populations are mostly affected? Particularly, what is the dissemination of resistant pathogens (e.g. ESBL E. coli ST131) among residents of Swiss nursing homes? In the future, we are aiming to better understand the role of healthcare workers in the spread of these pathogens.

Infections in healthcare workers (SURPRISE+ study)

In August 2020 we have launched our multicenter cohort study looking at various aspects of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare workers (seroprevalence, risk factors, symptomatology, long COVID, long-term protection). For the future, we are planning to re-purpose this unique platform to study other infectious diseases. A survey and prevalence study on antibiotic resistance (see above) is planned for October 2022; currently, we are also performing seroprevalence study on tick-borne encephalitis virus. 

SURPRISE+ study

 

Research database

On the research database of the KSSG you will find further information regarding our projects and publications.

Collaborations

We are collaborating with the following partners:

  • ANRESIS (Swiss National Center for Antibiotic Resistance)
  • HPCi Vaud
  • Laboratory Risch

Funding

We are being funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (i.e. Ambizione Career grant and project grant), the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health, the Health Department of the Canton of St.Gallen, and the research fund of the Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen.