Infectious diseases: problems and challenges

Abstract

Animals and, unfortunately, medical care are responsible for many of the problems and challenges caused by infection that we currently face. The symposium’s morning session covered four zoonotic infections – Q fever, Lyme borreliosis, verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli and rabies – that will require improved interaction between physicians, microbiologists, veterinarians and public health agencies for their control. Representatives of each of these groups spoke, and the audience was similarly broad in its make-up. The afternoon session saw expert speakers discuss two difficult bugs – complicated Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and fungal lung infection – and the difficult clinical scenario of ensuring patients with severe sepsis receive effective initial antibiotics without fuelling antimicrobial resistance or Clostridium difficile disease. The wealth of information and experience provided should challenge anyone prescribing antimicrobial agents to reflect on and improve their own practice.