Preliminary Programme

 

What is responsible use of antibiotics?
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Antibiotic Policies
View of low-resistance countries
View of high-resistance countries

The pros and cons of manipulating the microbiome to prevent multidrug-resistant organisms
Benefits of microbiome manipulation in reducing resistance
Unintended consequences of microbiome manipulation including decolonization

Antibacterial treatment: how short is long enough?
arranged with the French Infectious Diseases Society (SPILF) & the ESCMID Study Group for Antibiotic Policies
Pyelonephritis
Osteoarticular infections
Community-acquired pneumonia
Tuberculosis

High-risk clones, changing the scenario of multidrug resistance world-wide
Gram-positive pathogens: Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus spp. high-risk clones
Gram-negative pathogens: Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa high-risk clones
All players together: the balance between multidrug resistance and virulence
The diagnostic and epidemiological challenge

Bloodstream infections in the era of MDR and XDR Gram-negative bacteria
arranged with the
ESCMID Study Group for Bloodstream Infections and Sepsis & the ESCMID Study Group for Antimicrobia
Speeding up the laboratory diagnosis of bloodstream infection
Reporting blood culture results to clinicians: MIC, resistance mechanisms, both?
Initial and definitive therapy - do we have sufficient evidence for guidance?
Improving clinical outcomes: from epidemiological surveillance to clinical networking

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for adults
arranged with the ESCMID Vaccine Study Group
Pro-Con debate

Bloodstream infections and sepsis in the elderly: challenges and prospects
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Bloodstream Infections and Sepsis & the ESCMID Study Group for Infections in the Elderly
Short and long-term outcomes of bloodstream infections in the elderly - what matters and how best to evaluate?
Critical aspects of drug and non-drug treatment in the elderly with infection

New preventive strategies in urinary tract infection
Can we decrease antibiotic-resistant UTIs by decreasing antibiotic use on the farm?
Are E. coli colonising the gut differently from those causing UTI?
Anti-virulence pharmaceutical approaches to prevent UTI
Where is the E. coli vaccine for UTI prevention? 
Prophylaxis of recurrent UTI by antibiotics and by immunostimulation
Antibiotic prophylaxis of recurrent UTI

Hot topics in infective endocarditis
Management of endocarditis caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens
Cardiac imaging in infectious endocarditis
Oral antibiotics for the treatment of endocarditis?
Early cardiac surgery for whom?

The next step in diagnostic bacteriology: assessing colony morphology by digital imaging
What can bacterial colony morphology tell us?
Phenotypic identification of bacteria based on digital imaging

Benefits and challenges of site-specific breakpoints
arranged with the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
Indication-specific breakpoints targeting urinary tract infections
Uncomplicated urinary tract infections
Meningitis

Added value of syndrome-based molecular diagnosis?
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Molecular Diagnostics
Diarrhoea
Central nervous system infection
Emerging infections
Respiratory tract infection 

Genomics in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology
So I have sequenced my organism ... what do I do now?
Bacterial genomics: usefulness for diagnostic microbiology
Bacterial genomics: usefulness to identify virulence factors and antibiotic resistance markers
Bacterial genome sequencing for outbreak detection

State-of-the-art in rapid diagnostics
Rapid testing for bacterial infections
Phenotypic next generation antimicrobial susceptibility testing
Rapid testing for viral infections
Rapid diagnostics for malaria and other parasitic diseases

Hot topics in culture-based diagnostics
MALDI-TOF: what is new?
Automation of bacteriology: what is new?
Chromogenic agar for identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing
Culturomics

Molecular typing as a tool for the control of MDR and XDR organisms
Classic molecular typing techniques for routine infection control activities: a critical and practical appraisal
Whole genome sequencing - already here?

Evidence base for prevention of surgical site infections - Pro-Con debates
Timing of perioperative prophylaxis is not important
Timing of perioperative prophylaxis is essential
Preoperative screening and decolonisation for S. aureus should be abandoned
Preoperative screening and decolonisation for S. aureus should be mandatory

Applying behaviour theory to the real world: lessons learnt from large hand hygiene trials
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Nosocomial Infections
Using behaviour change theory to best use feedback to get healthcare workers to wash their hands - lessons from a national RCT
Hand-hygiene compliance can be increased but it takes a bundle of interventions; a multicentre hand-hygiene trial
Are automated surveillance systems just monitoring or do they improve behaviour?
Hand hygiene compliance: how much is enough?

News from basic science for clinical application in Clostridium difficile infections
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Molecular Diagnostics & the ESCMID Study Group for Clostridium difficile
New virulence factors of Clostridium difficile
Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of new epidemic Clostridium difficile strains
The significance of asymptomatic colonisation of Clostridium difficile
Therapeutic interventions of the microbiota to prevent Clostridium difficile infections

Barriers and facilitators - challenges to implementing infection control bundles
Understanding central line-associated bloodstream infection bundle implementation on a national scale
Implementing surgical-site infection bundles across large healthcare systems
Successful implementation of catheter-associated urinary tract infection prevention bundles: lessons learned
Successful implementation of community-associated urinary tract infection bundles: lessons learned
The case of MDR Gram-negatives

Vector-pathogen interaction: implications in disease dynamics
Vector dynamics for emergence of new diseases
Vector competence of new pathogen genotypes

Clinical perspectives of human microbiome research
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Molecular Diagnostics
Oral microbiota
Gut and lung microbiota
Vaginal microbiota
Implications of microbiome alterations due to probiotics and antibiotics

Insights into biofilm-associated infections
Antibiofilm peptides: potential as a broad spectrum agent
Antibiofilm-peptides: pipe dream or future reality?
Microbial interactions in an endotracheal biofilm
Strategies to control oral infections on the biofilm level
Anaerobic and microaerophilic pathogens in the biofilm device-related infections
Gene expression and caspofungin and fluconazole resistance in biofilms

Pathophysiology and treatment of group A streptococcal infections: where are we going?
The intracellular life of extracellular group A streptococci
Group A streptococci in the throat: prevent, ignore or treat?
Increased virulence of group A streptococci: where are we going?
Invasive group A streptococci: what is the best treatment?

How Staphylococcus aureus evades host and treatment
Intracellular survival of S. aureus
New approaches for treating staphylococcal biofilm infections
How Staphylococcus aureus escapes the host immune system
Regulatory RNAs in Staphylococcus aureus virulence

Fungal PCR
arranged with the ESCMID Fungal Infection Study Group
Aspergillus-specific PCR: pros and cons
Pan-fungal PCR: pros and cons

Recent top papers in fungal infections
arranged with the ESCMID Fungal Infection Study Group
Top papers in diagnostics and susceptibility testing
Top papers in the management of invasive fungal disease

Challenges in fungal infections
arranged with the ESCMID Fungal Infection Study Group
Invasive fungal infections after solid organ transplantation
Overview of invasive fungal infections after solid organ transplantation
Osteoarticular infections due to Aspergillus and other moulds
Osteoarticular infections due to Candida and dimorphic fungi
Optimising antifungal PK/PD properties 

Hot topics in helminthic diseases
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Clinical Parasitology
Helminthic infection, coinfection and hyperinfection
Anti-helminthic drug resistance: a big problem in veterinary practice, are humans next?

Towards malaria elimination
Public health aspects and challenges
The role of antimalarial drugs
The role of vaccines
Malaria diagnostics

Refugees, migrants and infections
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Infections in Travellers and Migrants
Review of European facilities for migrant healthcare
Equity of access to healthcare
Mass infections in refugee camps
Immigrants returning home to visit friends and relatives (VFRs)

Efficacy and side effects of neuraminidase inhibitors for influenza: who should be treated and who not?
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Infections in the Elderly & ESCMID Vaccine Study Group
Evidence from randomised controlled trials
Evidence from observational cohort studies 

Viral recurrence post-transplant
How harmful is BK-virus for the kidney allograft?
Current challenges in post liver transplant patients with viral hepatitis

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in HIV-infected and non-HIV-infected patients: what is new in 2015?
arranged with the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS)
Pathology, clinical manifestations and complications of PML
Therapeutic options against JC virus

New features in encephalitis
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Infectious Diseases of the Brain & the French Infectious Diseases Society (SPILF)
Infection triggering auto-immune encephalitis
HHV6 - 7 encephalitis
Novel brain imaging approaches and findings in encephalitis
Epidemiology of infectious encephalitis sequels

What is hot in HIV/AIDS in 2015?
arranged with the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS)
European HIV testing guidelines
HIV treatment as prevention
Joep Lange Memorial Lecture: where are we with low cost/generic provision of antiretrovirals ?
Modelling the end of the HIV epidemic

Poliomyelitis eradication: steps forwards and residual threats
The Polio Endgame – achievements, challenges and course corrections at the 24 month mark
Obstacles to the worldwide effort to eradicate poliomyelitis
Pakistan – the Achilles’ heel for polio eradication?
Eradicating polio in India: a story of success
Polio in Syria and Middle East: the war within the war
Lessons from the European border: the 2010 polio outbreak in Tajikistan

Management of chronic viral hepatitis
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Viral Hepatitis
Fibrosis regression after cure of hepatitis C?
Is the "lead-in" with PEG-interferon/ribavirin still reasonable?
Chronic hepatitis E
Treatment and long-term follow-up of delta hepatitis

Dynamics of autochtonous vector-borne viral diseases in Europe
West-Nile virus
Tick-borne encephalitis
Chikungunya
Dengue

Can PK/PD provide all the answers for breakpoints & antibiotic dosing?
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Critically Ill Patients  &  the ESCMID PK/PD of Anti-Infectives Study Group
Pro-Con debate

Cutting-edge issues in translational pharmacodynamics and personalised antimicrobial therapy
arranged with the ESCMID PK/PD of Anti-Infectives Study Group
Therapeutic drug monitoring of beta-lactams in the ICU
Combination therapy to prevent emergence of resistance
Problems in establishing PK/PD: binding to proteins, plastics, etc.
Special sites: dosing for infections in the lung

Networking and challenges in the clinical development of new antibacterial agents
arranged with the EU-IMI COMBACTE Consortium
News on the development of antibodies for the prevention of severe bacterial infections
Development of drugs for treatment of abdominal infections caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens
Which changes in the regulatory landscape will be most useful?
Alternative trial designs

Resurrecting old antimicrobial agents
arranged with the ESCMID PK/PD of Anti-Infectives Study Group & the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing
Translational research for old antibiotics: what is lacking?
Sparing carbapenems by revived old antibiotics (mecillinam, temocillin, fosfomycin)
Appropriate usage of nitrofurantoin
Regulatory issues with old antibiotics 

New antibacterial drugs
Drug pipeline for Gram-negative bacteria
Drug pipeline for Gram-positive bacteria
Which role and indications for new oxazolidinones and glycopeptide antibiotics?
Which role and indications for new beta-lactams and beta-lactamase inhibitor-combinations?

Perspectives on infectious diseases in the era of new immunomodulatory and cancer therapies
Proteasome inhibitors and immunomodulatory drugs used for multiple myeloma: relevance for infectious diseases
The diverse monoclonal antibodies in immunology and medical oncology: relevance for infectious diseases

Phylogenomics for one health
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Epidemiological Markers
Host switches of high-risk clones across the animal and human interface
The small world of mobile genetic elements

Recent top papers in paediatric infectious diseases
Infections in paediatrics
Vaccines in paediatrics

Sepsis update
arranged with the International Sepsis Forum (ISF)
Best sepsis poster award lecture
What is new in severe sepsis and septic shock?
Bacterial toxins in sepsis

Vaccines against mucosal infections
arranged with the ESCMID Vaccine Study Group
Low-cost vaccine pipeline - worldwide perspective
Outcome analysis of rotavirus vaccines
Pertussis – why does it persist?
HPV vaccination in Europe – where are we?

A systems biology approach to understanding infections
The interaction of the microbiome with the immune system
Functional genomics: identifying new host defense mechanisms
Transcriptomics of sepsis: diagnostic promises
A systems biology understanding of fungal infections

Current topics in tuberculosis
arranged with the ESCMID Study Group for Mycobacterial Infections
Global epidemiology
Molecular insights into clustering virulence and resistance and novel diagnostic tools forMycobacterium tuberculosis
Update on new drugs and diagnostics
All those news and innovations - is this enough to turn the tide against TB?
Novel insights into molecular mechanisms, novel diagnostics and novel drugs - is this enough to turn the tide against TB?

Clinical approach in febrile immunocompromised patients with pulmonary infiltrates
arranged with the ESCMID Fungal Infection Study Group & International Immunocompromised Host Society (ICHS)
Epidemiology of lung infection in immunocompromised patients
Modern imaging: sensitivity and specificity
Optimised microbiological diagnostics
News on risk-adapted pre-emptive treatment approaches?

Maternal immunisations to prevent newborn infections
arranged with the American Society for Clinical Microbiology (ASM) & the Programme Committee of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC)
Immunological bases and challenges of maternal immunisation
Current understanding of pregnancy immunobiology
Status of bacterial vaccines to prevent neonatal sepsis and pneumonia (GBS/pertussis)
Status of viral vaccines to prevent respiratory infections (influenza, RSV)
Potential impact of maternal immunisations on adverse pregnancy outcomes (preterm birth, still birth, etc)

Clinical Grand Round 2015
arranged with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
Cases will be presented to experienced professors of infectious disease, who will then discuss the differential diagnosis and management plan. All cases have been carefully selected for their instructive qualities and topicality, and will be presented by fellows from major infectious disease centres in Europe and beyond.

Young Investigator Award Ceremony & Lectures
Clinical research on respiratory tract infections
Can PK/PD get us better outcomes for infected ICU patients?
Following my gut feelings...

The Year in Clinical Microbiology

The Year in Infectious Diseases

The Year in Infection Control
The “Year in…” sessions will be presented in a new format. Three experts of the field will present reviews of articles and publications followed by an interactive panel discussion. Literature lists will be available for download on the day of the session.