This day will focus on emerging and neglected infections and has been devised for those working or interested in infection specialties including microbiology, virology and infectious diseases. It is suitable for both trainees and consultants to equip them with knowledge and skills for specialist practice, assessment and continuing professional development.
09.00 Registration and coffee
09.55 Introduction - Dr Stephen Winchester, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
10.00 Emerging/neglected bacterial infections - Dr Colin Brown, Public Health England
Dr Brown's talk will focus on emerging or re-emerging diseases in the UK and overseas that have significant unknowns in microbiological diagnosis, testing, or treatment or those that have been around for significant time but pose increasing challenges due to widespread antimicrobial resistance.
11.00 Emerging Viral Diseases: Challenges to Prevent the Next Pandemic - Professor Daniel Bausch, Public Health England/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Emerging and neglected viral diseases constitute one of the major health threats to our planet. These viruses are the cause of the three pandemics or major epidemics that have inflicted humankind in the still young 21st-century: SARS-coronavirus (2003), H1N1 influenza (2009), and Ebola (2013). In this presentation, Professor Bausch will discuss some of the major viral threats and recent global community efforts at prevention, preparedness and response.
12.00 Refreshments
12.20 Military microbiology - Lieutenant Colonel Emma Hutley, Royal Army Medical Corps
13.20 Lunch
14.00 Emerging/neglected parasitic infections - Professor Russell Stothard, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Professor Stothard will highlight new diagnostic approaches to key neglected tropical diseases which are being used in control programmes. He will also draw attention to novel methods to diagnose female and male genital schistosomiasis, using colposcopy and WHO colour atlas as well as PCR methods for analysis of biopsy/lavage material. Detection of genital schistosomiasis is particularly important as an underlying risk factor for acquisition/transfer of HIV and HPV in both genders.
15.00 Refreshments
15.20 Tackling emerging fungal threats - Professor Matthew Fisher, Imperial College London
Emerging infections caused by fungi have become a widely recognised global phenomenon. Their notoriety stems from their role in causing plagues and famines and driving species extinctions, and the clinical difficulties that are inherent in treating human mycoses alongside increasing resistance of fungi to antifungal drugs. Professor Fisher's lecture examines why pathogenic fungi are causing more disease now than they did in the past, and how we can tackle this rapidly emerging threat to public health worldwide.
16.20 Close
