19/05/2011

Within five years may be possible to prescribe drugs 'a la carte' to treat patients with sepsis thanks to advances in pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics. This is one of the main conclusions of the International course on antimicrobial strategies in sepsis (ICASIS), coordinated by Dr. Jordi Rello, head of the clinical research and innovation in Pneumonia and Sepsis group at Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR ), which took place this week in Sitges.According to Dr. Rello, the first objective in this research is to design a map of the genes involved in response to different drugs used to treat this disease with the aim of choosing the best alternative, as well as dose for each patient. Another hot topic at the meeting is the increased incidence of some microorganisms called KPC among patients in intensive care units in several cities of Greece that could reach other Mediterranean countries in the coming months, which would lead to the recovery of older drugs such as fosfomycin. Also these days experts have spoken of the need to redefine the concept of respiratory infections in the intubated patient.