Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Biography

Biography: Santiago Herrero

Abstract

COPD is a general term used to cover a variety of abnormalities that often coexist: chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and peripheral airway disease. Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) are common, particularly during the winter months, increasing the admissions in Hospitals. When patients worsening the lung function on a dramatic respiratory failure they are admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for ventilatory support. It is important to know every acute exacerbation it leads to an increasing deterioration of the respiratory function. In the ICU the patients they are admitted requiring invasive and non-invasive ventilatory support. The role of respiratory infections associated with AECOPD is very heterogeneous involving not only those infections that patients present in the exacerbations but also those infections that are acquired in the ICU as community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) or ventilator associate-pneumonia (VAP) in those patients who are ventilated invasively for more than 5 days. Some tests can from the beginning help us to make a potential differential diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections. The diagnosis and treatment of bacterial pneumonia in patients who are receiving mechanical ventilation remain a difficult challenge. Some biomarkers could be an advance in the diagnosis and monitoring of this type of patients with pneumonia. The presence of soluble sTREM-1 in bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid from patients receiving mechanical ventilation may be an indicator of bacterial or fungal pneumonia. The union of different disciplines, such as intensivist, pneumologist, internist, microbiologist, and bacteriologist can be fundamental forget an early diagnosis and treatment.