Max von Pettenkofer Institute

Pettenkofer Institute of the LMU

The Max von Pettenkofer Institute (spelling: Max von Pettenkofer Institute) is a research and university laboratory for hygiene and medical microbiology at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. It conducts laboratory tests on infectious diseases of all kinds. In addition, hygienic-microbiological examinations for quality assurance in medical facilities in accordance with the guidelines for hospital hygiene and infection prevention .

The institute receives international attention through the publication of research results in the field of infectious diseases.

history

The institute has its roots in the Institute for Hygiene , whose first director from 1865 was Max von Pettenkofer . From epidemiological analyzes of the cholera epidemics in Munich (1836/37 and 1853/54), he concluded that the soil quality can be improved significantly by centralizing the sewerage system and the drinking water supply, thus freeing Munich of typhus and cholera . Munich therefore owes Pettenkofer its sewer system and central drinking water supply. Towards the end of the 19th century, Munich was considered one of the cleanest cities in Europe. The benefits became apparent at the end of the 19th century when cholera broke out in Hamburg, but Munich was spared. Max von Pettenkofer is considered the founder of hygiene and a pioneer of environmental medicine , which was implemented in the founding of this first hygiene institute at a university worldwide.

In 1996 a chair for virology and a chair for bacteriology were established. Vera Preac-Mursic was head of the bacteriological department of the Max von Pettenkofer Institute for many years until 1994. Under her leadership, the Munich working group researched Borrelia burgdorferi, the pathogen causing Lyme disease. With the cultivation of a large number of strains from patient samples, the Max von Pettenkofer Institute received a valuable collection of strains that researched the heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi, making it one of the world's leading institutes in this special field. The National Reference Center for Borrelia was then established at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute .

research

The main research areas are:

• bacterial infections of the gastrointestinal tract , Aspergillus , Helicobacter , Pseudomonas , Yersinia , cellular microbiology
• DNA viruses: herpes viruses , adenoviruses
• RNA viruses: Paramyxoviridae , Rhabdoviruses , Coronaviridae

laboratory

The following tests are carried out in the hygiene laboratory :

• Hygienic-microbiological examinations for quality assurance of hygiene in medical facilities (especially in clinics and doctor's or dentist's practices) in accordance with the guidelines for hospital hygiene and infection prevention of the Robert Koch Institute
• Hygienic-microbiological examinations of water samples according to the Drinking Water Ordinance and other regulations (water hygiene)

Clinical virology offers a comprehensive range of tests that includes all relevant viruses that are pathogenic to humans.

In the area of ​​clinical microbiology, patient samples such as blood cultures, urine, materials from the respiratory tract, smears and tissue samples of all kinds from all body regions as well as stool samples are examined. All conventional methods of bacteriological diagnosis are offered. These include microscopy, also as a rapid diagnosis, cultivation under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, the identification of pathogens and the susceptibility test of relevant bacteria to all antibiotics on the KUM 's drug list . The molecular biological diagnostics of the Max von Pettenkofer Institute allows the direct PCR-based detection of human pathogens (including e.g. Borrelia , Mycoplasma ).

Other: tuberculosis diagnostics, serological tests

Personalities

Directors or employees of the institute were:

• Max von Pettenkofer
• Alfred Nissle
• Max von Gruber
• Wilhelm Prausnitz
• Alexander S. Kekulé
• Karl Süpfle
• Gustav Wolffhügel
• Friedrich Deinhardt
• George Gee Jackson
• Hermann Eyer
• Karl-Heinz Schleifer
• Lutz Gürtler
• Ludwig Heim
• Jürgen Heesemann

Identical names

From 1953 to 1994 an institute of the Federal Health Office also bore the name Max von Pettenkofer Institute .

literature

• Nadine Yvonne Meyer: The Hygiene Institute of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich under Max von Pettenkofer as an international training and research facility (dissertation, LMU Munich 2016, online (pdf))

Web links

• Website of the institute

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.mvp.uni-muenchen.de/institut/geschichte/
2. ^ WG Locher: Max von Pettenkofer - life stations of a genius on the 100th anniversary of his death (February 9, 1901). In: International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health . Volume 203, Numbers 5-6, July 2001, pp. 379-391, ISSN  1438-4639 . doi : 10.1078 / 1438-4639-00063 . PMID 11556142 .
3. ↑ G. Raschke, Max von Pettenkofer's Cholera Theory in the Crossfire of Criticism (PDF; 869 kB) Med. Diss. P. 14 ff.
4. ↑ infection-research.de .
5. ^ History of the institute .
6. ↑ Research area
7. ↑ Hygiene work area
8. ↑ Investigations in the hygiene laboratory
9. ^ "Varia" area: Examination of patient samples .
10. ↑ Molecular Diagnostics - Microbiology .
11. ^ Max von Pettenkofer Institute: Max von Pettenkofer Institute: Personalia. Retrieved April 4, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Wissenschaftsrat.de (PDF; 209 kB).