[Infectious diseases as a clinical specialty in Germany and Europe]

Clinical infectious diseases have only slowly been established as a medical specialty in Germany. The density of infectious diseases (ID) specialists and the number of ID divisions in general hospitals is still limited when compared with the situation in many other European countries, and there is also a lack of hospital-based medical microbiologists and infection control doctors for many reasons. Often, there is a lack of understanding of the roles and the performance of ID specialists versus microbiologists. Experience in other countries shows that ID specialists are important as clinical experts at the bedside, can help ascertain healthcare quality and patient safety, and are perfectly suited for undertaking strategic tasks in the field of cost-effective antimicrobial therapy algorithms and antibiotic stewardship (ABS) in hospitals. ID specialists are responsible for infection control in several countries, can improve the utility of diagnostic microbiology and are key partners in translational research. We estimate that more than 1,000 additional ID specialists are needed in this country, and believe that specially trained ABS experts can take over parts of their responsibilities and tasks in smaller hospitals. More capacity and flexibility in postgraduate training in infectious diseases, antibiotic stewardship and infection control in Germany will be critical to address the problem of antimicrobial resistance. (As supplied by publisher)