On 28 September to 2 October 2019, the European Respiratory Society (ERS) held its annual International Congress of 2019 in Madrid, Spain. Bringing together almost 23,000 delegates from around the world for a packed week of scientific and educational sessions around respiratory medicine, ERS put on a lively display of clinical presentations at the capital of Spain.
On 29 September 2019, a symposium was held on ‘Fighting antimicrobial resistance: from prevention to antimicrobial stewardship’ that was chaired by WP6 co-lead Prof. Murat Akova of ESCMID and Dr. Eva Polverino of ERS. Project lead of VALUE-Dx, Prof. Dr. Herman Goossens, gave a compelling talk on ‘The new era of diagnostics: will it ever start?’, presenting the evolving market of in vitro diagnostics as the world’s largest med-tech sector. Despite the booming interest, MedTech Europe reported that diagnostics only represent 0.8% of total healthcare expenditure in Europe in 2016.
When it comes to antimicrobial resistance, diagnostics such as point-of-care-testing would be instrumental in fighting this global problem. With approximately 80% of antibiotics prescribed in primary care and over-prescription a real concern, diagnostics would pave the way towards proper use of antibiotics in primary care settings. In the future, better and quicker diagnostic tools should be able to transform the current practice of empiric antibiotic therapy into a directed and precise antibiotic therapy, therefore improving clinical outcomes of patients with infections.
Download presentation ‘The new era of diagnostics: will it ever start?’ by Prof. Dr. Herman Goossens
Download the full agenda of ERS International Congress 2019
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