Dr Yazdan Mirzanejad

Infectious diseases are the most common diagnoses in inpatient and outpatient medicine.[1,2]

We are facing many emerging infectious diseases challenges in the light of current epidemics such as SARS-CoV-2, HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as the rapid spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria around the world.[3-6] Therefore, it is imperative that various practitioners have basic updated knowledge about general clinical infectious diseases approaches in order to provide good patient care.

As the guest editor for this theme issue, I selected eight important and practical topics and matched them with eight groups of experts in those fields to provide the most up-to-date information.

The first article [10] in part 1 of this theme issue provides an overview of the development of infrastructure for the subspecialty of infectious diseases in BC since 1978 (Chow).[5-8] The second article [11] describes the evolving roles for outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy, which could provide an alternative path to more cost-effective care by alleviating crowded acute care settings without compromising the safety and quality of care delivery (Azhir and Chapman).[9-11] The third article [12] presents a state-of-the-art review on the principles of transplant medicine and the highlights of an excellent service approach provided within this highly sophisticated discipline (Fakhredine and colleagues).[12-14]

The last article [13] describes the state of various sexually transmitted infections in BC, including soaring rates of some diseases, the improvement in diagnosis due to new molecular testing and treatment strategies, and available consultancy to the practitioners for early guidance in due course of management (Zewude and colleagues).[15-17]

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This editorial has been peer reviewed.

[14]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License [14].

References

1.    Levant S, Chari K, DeFrances CJ. Hospitalizations for patients aged 85 and over in the United States, 2000–2010. NCHS Data Brief 2015;1-8.

2.    Magill SS, Edwards JR, Bamberg W, et al. Multistate point–prevalence survey of health care–associated infections. N Engl J Med 2014;370:1198-1208.

3.    Anderson KB, Thomas SJ, Endy TP. The emergence of Zika virus: A narrative review. Ann Intern Med 2016;165:175-183.

4.    Chertow DS, Kleine C, Edwards JK, et al. Ebola virus disease in West Africa—clinical manifestations and management. N Engl J Med 2014;371:2054-2057.

5.    Abbo LM, Cosgrove SE, Pottinger PS, et al. Medical students’ perceptions and knowledge about antimicrobial stewardship: How are we educating our future prescribers? Clin Infect Dis 2013;57:631-638.

6.    Weaver SC, Lecuit M. Chikungunya virus and the global spread of a mosquito-borne disease. N Engl J Med 2015;372:1231-1239.

7.    Institute of Medicine. Ensuring an infectious disease workforce: Education and training needs for the 21st century: Workshop summary. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2006. doi: 10.17226/11563.

8.    Dellit TH, Owens RC, McGowan JE Jr, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America guidelines for developing an institutional program to enhance antimicrobial stewardship. Clin Infect Dis 2007;44:159-177.

9.    Yan M, Lam PW, Andany N, et al. Assessing the utilization and impact of a newly established outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) program. JAMMI 2020;5:70-76.

10.    Wong HJ, Morra D, Caesar M, et al. Understanding hospital and emergency department congestion: An examination of inpatient admission trends and bed resources. CJEM 2010;12:18-26.

11.    Afra K, Wong M, Chapman MG, et al. 750: Effectiveness, safety, and impact on healthcare decongestion by a busy Canadian infusion centre for outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy. Open Forum Infect Dis 2014;1(suppl 1):S212.

12.    BC Transplant. Current statistics, by program. Accessed 9 May 2021. www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs2021/719375/index.htm [15].

13.    Pappas PG, Alexander BD, Andes DR, et al. Invasive fungal infections among organ transplant recipients: Results of the Transplant-Associated Infection Surveillance Network (TRANSNET). Clin Infect Dis 2010;50:1101-1111.

14.    Razonable RR, Humar A. Cytomegalovirus in solid organ transplant recipients—Guidelines of the American Society of Transplantation Infectious Diseases Community of Practice. Clin Transplant 2019;33:e13512.

15.    Walker CK, Sweet RL. Gonorrhea infection in women: Prevalence, effects, screening, and management. Int J Womens Health 2011;3:197-206.

16.    Public Health Agency of Canada. Section 2: Canadian guidelines on sexually transmitted infections—primary care and sexually transmitted infections. 2013. Accessed 10 April 2021. www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/infectious-diseases/sexual-health-sexually-transmitted-infections/canadian-guidelines/sexually-transmitted-infections.html [16].

17.    BC Centre for Disease Control. Sexually transmitted infections clinics. 2021. Accessed 10 April 2021. www.bccdc.ca/our-services/our-clinics/sexually-transmitted-infections-clinics [17].

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Dr Mirzanejad is a clinical professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases, University of British Columbia, and an infectious diseases consultant at the Surrey campus/Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre.