Editorial: Clinical Microbiology in Low Resource Settings

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Zisis Kozlakidis¹  Olivier Vandenberg²  John Stelling⁵ 

[1] International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization;Innovation and Business Development Unit, Groupement Hospitalier Universitaire de Bruxelles (GHUB), Université Libre de Bruxelles;Centre for Environmental Health and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB);Division of Infection and Immunity, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University College London, United Kingdom;Microbiology Laboratory, Women's Hospital, United States

关键词: low resource;    clinical;    microbiology;    antimicrobial resistance (AMR);    surveillance;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2020.00258

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The field of clinical microbiology faces increased pressures in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the burden of infection is highest and health systems appear least able to respond to pressures, such as antimicrobial resistance (1). The current gaps in our knowledge relating to detection, characterization, effective treatment, and follow-up constrain national governments and international organizations in their efforts to detect evolving trends and emerging threats. Good quality clinical microbiology, implemented at a population level through well-functioning reference laboratory networks is necessary for effective antimicrobial resistance surveillance and control for example, but low-resource settings face infrastructural, technical, and human resource challenges toward such an implementation. As is true for many topics, hospitals and communities in different LMIC settings have unique challenges and methods for overcoming those challenges fully or partially (2). The regional and national variations of clinical microbiology implementation in LMICs limit our understanding and the extent to which clinical microbiology results can inform national and international health policies. An important component and common limitation of health systems in LMICs are the human resources to do work, across all cadres of staff, including clinical, laboratory, managerial, policy-making, data analysis, and project management groups (3). Microbiological expertise is particularly limited in the generation, sharing, systematic analysis, and dissemination of data in low-resource settings. Numerous agencies and initiatives are working to support the development of clinical microbiology capacity. However, the routine generation of a predictable, sustainable flow of reliable data will take time to establish and deliver clinical and public health impact (4). An integrated model, combining clinical, laboratory and demographic information remains perhaps a distant aspiration. As such the need to share knowledge and experiences is an effective approach to remove communication barriers and contribute to reducing the inequities in understanding disease burden worldwide.

【 授权许可】

CC BY