Programme highlight: Respiratory infections

Respiratory infections at Congress:

Airway and pulmonary infections play an important role for outpatient, clinical and intensive care medicine in children and adults. Prevention of infections and the emergence of antibiotic resistance remain to be key topics in this this area. This year's Congress puts a focus on the topic of respiratory infections presenting a wide variety of educational and scientific opportunities for anyone interested in this field.

Educational and scientific sessions include: a postgraduate course on 'Challenges in the treatment of tuberculosis', a state-of-the-art session on 'Respiratory infections', a hot topic session on 'Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis: from guidelines to real life implantation', and challenging clinical case session on 'non resolving pneumonia', plus much more.*

Use the programme to find all related sessions

To search for sessions specifically linked to the topic of respiratory critical care you can use the online search tool; simply access the online programme, click on 'Advance' and select 'Respiratory infections' from the 'Track' options. The programme can also be used to search for keywords, speakers and dates.

Hear from ERS officers

ERS has a dedicated assembly to respiratory infections – made up of healthcare professionals and scientists from around the world and led by experts in the field covering all issues of pulmonary and respiratory infections with a strong focus on pneumonia and antibiotic resistance, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. Head of the ERS Assembly on Respiratory Infections Professor Graham Bothamley (GB), assembly Secretary Professor Eva Polverino (EP), and the early-career representative Dr Aran Singanayagam (AS) offer us some insight into this year's event.

What can professionals specialising in this area expect to gain from attending this year's Congress?

GB: A State of the Art session which will answer all your practical question on respiratory infections and postgraduate courses for more detail, and a Hot Topic session on tuberculosis looking to the future of clinical care.

What in your opinion will be the popular topics relating to respiratory infections at this year's Congress and what will be particular highlight for you?

EP: The management of chronic infections is becoming a common challenge for chest physicians worldwide, in particular in patients with underlying lung disease such as bronchiectasis, COPD and severe asthma. In addition, the burden of antimicrobial resistance is growing day by day. The population is ageing everywhere in the world meaning we face more and more infections in chronic diseases and an increasing number of fragile patients at risk of death. We desperately need to adapt our medicine to this rapidly evolving reality as soon as possible by improving preventive measures and strategies to control antimicrobial resistance.

As an early-career professional with a focus on respiratory infections, why is the upcoming Congress valuable to career development?

AS: The ERS Congress will give me a fantastic opportunity to attend seminars, symposia and presentations by world-leading experts in the field of respiratory infections. I also hope to use the conference to meet with potential future collaborators, to discuss project ideas that will enhance my future research and support my long-term career progression.

You can join the ERS Assembly on Respiratory Infections using our online platform myERS and ensure that you are kept up to date with developments and opportunities in this area.

*Note: Educational sessions (postgraduate courses, skills workshops, professional development workshops and meet the expert sessions) can be attended at an additional cost to the standard registration fee