Infectious diseases

The course provides students with knowledge about infectious diseases and the principles of antimicrobial therapy. The student is introduced to the patophysiology, the clinical presentation, the course, the epidemiology and the principles of drug therapy of bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infectious diseases of different organs and systems. Vector-borne and emerging/neglected diseases will be also addressed.

At the end of the course, students should be able to: -Describe how a patient's social history (travel, HIV risk factors, exposures) can have a significant impact on the differential diagnosis and management of infections -Describe and analyse a broad range of major syndromes including community and hospital-acquired pneumonia, infective endocarditis, cellulitis, urinary tract infections and the evaluation of fever -Apply diagnostic services including gram stain and culture, antimicrobial sensitivity testing and other standard microbiology lab techniques -Discuss and appropriately apply the basic principles of infection control such as contact or respiratory isolation and contact tracing -Describe exposure to critically ill patients and immunosuppressed patients, as well as an understanding of their specific spectrum of diseases.