The Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University Clinic Freiburg began in October 2000 to set up a reference databank for nosocomial infections among bone marrow transplant (BMT) or peripheral blood stem cell transplant (PBSCT) patients. ONKO-KISS is a component of the Hospital Infection Surveillance System (KISS) that was started at the National Reference Center for Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections (NRZ) in early 1997.

ONKO-KISS was initially limited to adult patients, but children older than one year of age have been  included in a parallel databank since January, 2003. The component ONKO-KISS_AL was added in 2005. Patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) who are undergoing chemotherapy are included in the survey.

ONKO-KISS concentrates on the measurement of blood infections (sepsis) and pneumonia during neutropenia, during which patients are at the most risk for nosocomial infections.

New participants are trained in special courses about the measurement of nosocomial infections. The data of all participants are gathered in Freiburg and evaluated semi-annually. Participants can compare their own infection rates with the reference data of all participating centres of each component.

A yearly meeting of all participants in Freiburg provides a forum for discussion, sharing experiences and adapting the protocol, if  necessary.

Meyer E, Beyersmann J, Bertz H, Wenzler-Röttele S, Babikir R, Schumacher M, Daschner FD, Rüden H, Dettenkofer M and the ONKO-KISS study group.
Risk factor analysis of blood stream infection and pneumonia in neutropenic patients after peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation.
Bone Marrow Transplant. 2007 Feb; 39(3):173-8.