Nearly 6,000 infectious disease specialists came together in San Diego, California on October 4-8, 2017 for IDWeek, the joint scientific conference of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS).

Sixteen members of the Division of Infectious Disease were among the attendees. The conference was chaired this year by David Andes, MD, professor and head of the division.

"IDWeek is really the only multi-disciplinary meeting in infectious diseases that brings together each of the major societies in the field. Attendees include physicians, pharmacists, nurses, public health officials, basic researchers and students from each of these stakeholders," he said.

"The topical areas literally range from A (antibiotics) to Z (Zika virus) and everything in between."

University of Wisconsin-Madison had a strong showing with at least 22 posters and three invited talks. "Presentations from UW included studies on new antibiotics, drug resistance, infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, and HIV, among others," said Dr. Andes. Members of the division also served as moderators for at least nine panel discussions.

Jeniel Nett, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Infectious Disease, presented a talk entitled “Emerging Therapeutics for Candida Infections,” which described new antifungal drugs in the pipeline for treatment that show promise in the anti-Candida arsenal. "Since only a single antifungal drug class has been introduced in the last several decades, it’s exciting to see new drugs and drug classes in the antifungal pipeline. This is particularly crucial given the rapid emergence of the drug-resistant pathogen Candida auris," she said.

The conference also proved to be an excellent environment for trainees, graduate students, and early-career infectious disease specialists. "The meeting is a great opportunity to connect with students and identify best education practices," said Dr. Andes.

These thoughts were echoed by doctoral candidate Karli Hochstatter, MPH, who studies under the direction of Ryan Westergaard, MD, PhD, MPH, Infectious Disease and thesis advisor Ajay Sethi, PhD, MHS, associate professor, Department of Population Health Sciences.

"The atmosphere at IDWeek is incredibly inviting and allows unique opportunities for networking and building lasting relationships with leaders in the field from around the world. It is an exciting place to learn about the newest diagnostic and treatment modalities and the latest epidemiology and prevention strategies," said Hochstatter.

Rapid advances in the field were eye-opening to Hochstatter, who presented a poster on the use of a mobile-health system to monitor and provide support for people facing opioid addiction and living with hepatitis C virus. "The highlight of this annual scientific meeting is hearing success stories, whether it be the case of an individual, intervention, or novel drugs and vaccines," she said.

Scientific Posters and Invited Talks Presented by UW-Madison Researchers at IDWeek 2017:

• "Estimating the Impact of Post-Prescribing Review on the Quality of Antibiotic Prescribing in Skilled Nursing Facilities" presented by Tamanna Hossin, UW School of Medicine and Public Health medical student and Shapiro Summer Research Scholar under the mentorship of Christopher Crnich, MD, PhD, associate professor, Infectious Disease.
• "Using a Mobile-Health System to Monitor and Provide Support along the Hepatitis C Virus Continuum of Care for People with Opioid Use Disorders: Experience from a Randomized Trial" presented by Karli Hochstatter, MPH under the mentorship of Ryan Westergaard, MD, PhD, MPH, assistant professor, Infectious Disease and Ajay Sethi, PhD, MHS, associate professor, Department of Population Health Sciences.
• "High Dietary Fiber is Associated with Reduced Prevalence of Gut Colonization by Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms" presented by Daniel Shirley, MD, MS, assistant professor (CHS), Infectious Disease.
• "Clinical Manifestations and Outcomes in Immunocompetent and Immunocompromised Patients with Blasomycosis" and "Long-Term Prognosis of Methicillin-Restistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Bacteremia at a Tertiary Care Hospital in the United States" presented by Joseph McBride, MD, clinical instructor, Infectious Disease.
• Posters by the research team of David Andes, MD, professor and head, Infectious Disease. These included "Minocycline enhances the antimicrobial capacity of unpolarized macrophages against Acinetobacter baumannii while inducing an anti-inflammatory profile," "Breaking New Ground: An Evaluation of Susceptibility Breakpoints for Echinocandins against Candida Species," "Traditional PK-PD Indices for Efficacy – Can We Do Better?," "In vivo Pharmacodynamic Evaluation of Omadacycline (PTK 0796) against Staphylococcus aureus (SA) in the Murine Thigh Infection Model,"In vivo Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) Target Characterization of the Novel, Long Acting Echinocandin CD101 against C. albicans and C. glabrata in the Neutropenic Murine Disseminated Candidiasis Model," and "Pharmacodynamic Optimization for the Treatment of Invasive Candida auris Infection." Alexander Lepak, MD, assistant professor (CHS), Infectious Disease, was first author on three of these posters.
• Christopher Crnich, MD, PhD, associate professor, Infectious Disease presented an invited talk entitled "Stewardship Accreditation Standards in Long Term Care." He and members of his group also presented four posters. They included "A Multidisciplinary Evaluation of Staphylococcus aureus Screening, Decolonization and Patient Adherence to Pre-Operative Decolonization Procedures," "At a Rural Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Telehealth Decreased Antibiotic Use in Long-Term, but not Acute Care," "Development of a Collaborative Practice Agreement Template to Promote the Role of the Pharmacist in Managing Urinary Tract Infections in Long Term Care Residents," and "Intra-Facility Acquisition of Methicillian-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Southern Wisconsin Skilled Nursing Facilities."
• Jeniel Nett, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Infectious Disease, gave an invited talk entitled "Emerging Therapeutics for Candida Infections."
• Nasia Safdar, MD, PhD, associate professor, Infectious Disease and vice chair for research presented an invited talk entitled "Clinical Controversies: Clostridium Difficile Prophylaxis in Patients on Antibiotics." She and members of her research group also presented five posters. They included "Likelihood of Environmental Contamination of Patient Rooms in Six Acute Care Facilities based on Facility, Unit-Type, and Precautions Status," "Multi-Facility Assessment of Variation in Transmission-Based Precautions (TBP) Policies and Healthcare Personnel (HCP) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Use Behavior," "Changes to the Composition of the Gastrointestinal Microbiome after Probiotics for Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults," "Challenges in implementing pre-surgical chlorhexidine shower or bath for prevention of surgical site infection," and "Should cefazolin be the first line antimicrobial prophylaxis choice in patients undergoing hysterectomy? A systematic review and meta-analysis."
• Dawd Siraj, MD, MPH&TM, professor (CHS), Infectious Disease, presented a poster entitled "Sustained Virologic Response with Direct Acting Antivirals in HIV Coinfected Hepatitis C Patients and Its Effect on Liver Fibrosis."

Resources:

• IDWeek 2017

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