title: [Symposium "infections, recently worth noticing". Introductory address].
abstract: There was once an idea that the extensive development of antibiotics and vaccines would cause most bacterial and viral infections to fade away someday. However, the occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and variant viruses proved this to be illusion. The spread of HIV infection, since there is no way to cure it so far, is of great concern. The occurrence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) presents another difficulty in preventing nosocomial infections due to the existence of healthy carriers. The out-break of MRSA in wards is one of the most serious problems in hospital management. HCV is capable of inducing chronic hepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis and hepatoma. HCV is thus a more serious concern today than HBV, since preventive measures against HBV by vaccination and anti-HBV immunoglobulin are fully established. We, doctors, nurses and clinical technologists are apt to be exposed to these hazardous microorganisms and thus should take appropriate precautions during routine work. The present symposium was planned to present recent research on these microorganisms, HIV, MRSA and HCV, so that we can improve our measures to prevent them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Hokkaido University School of Medicine, Sapporo.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D015658:HIV Infections; D006526:Hepatitis C; D006801:Humans; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections