AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching aims to:

• Provide students with basic information about the epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and prevention of infectious diseases
• Provide students with a general understanding of healthcare-associated infections
• Introduce pathogenetic aspects of infectious diseases of various systems, with particular attention to those involving the eye
• Introduce students to collaboration roles in the prevention and management of infectious diseases

At the end of the teaching, the student will be able to:

• Distinguish between colonization, infection and disease
• Recognize frequently encountered infectious diseases and emerging infectious diseases
• Recognize common clinical presentations of major infectious diseases
• Correctly apply/use, whenever necessary, isolation protocols and personal protective equipment
• Evaluate signs and symptoms of a patient with an infectious disease of the eye
• Classify infectious risks according to the presence or not of immunosuppression
• Identify clinical scenarios at risk for healthcare-associated infections 
• Recognize risk factors for antimicrobial resistance and prevent/contain the spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens

TEACHING METHODS

• Frontal teaching. In case of unforeseen circumstances, telematic teaching could be considered
• Use of audiovisual material (videos, images, power point presentations)

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

• Introduction to infectious diseases: global impact, definitions, contagiousness, routes of transmission
• Risk factors, prevention, and management of antimicrobial resistance
• Biological risk and isolation measures
• Infections of the eye
  • Conjunctivitis
  • Keratitis
  • Endophthalmitis
  • Uveitis
  • Retinitis
  • Periocular infections
• Pneumonia
• SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19
• Sepsis and septic shock
• Meningitis

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Manuale di Malattie Infettive, eighth edition 2015. Italian text. Authors: Mauro Moroni, Spinello Antinori, Vincenzo Vullo.
• Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, ninth edition 2019. English text. Authors: John E. Bennet, Raphael Dolin, Martin J. Blaser.