International experts explore diagnostics for infectious diseases

Leading experts from academia, industry and the public sector came together to share insights into novel diagnostics for infectious diseases. Over two days in March, 40 international speakers and over 200 in-person and online attendees explored novel diagnostics technologies and what it takes to translate them into tools for the detection, pathogen identification and treatment of infections. Professor Mike Levin, Department of Infectious Disease, presented an overview of the need for improved diagnostics: when patients present with signs of an infection, current methods often take days to return a result, and infectious pathogens can easily be missed in a clinical sample. Despite huge efforts, specific pathogen identification fails in approximately 75% of hospitalised cases. As a consequence, most treatment is given without even knowing whether an infection is bacterial or viral, let alone identifying the specific causative agent or whether it is resistant to different drugs. Although many cases are caused by viruses,...