Tropical Medicine Congress: Climate Change Leads to More Infectious Diseases

Dengue fever, malaria, Lyme disease - at the 16th Congress on Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine in Leipzig, experts warned of the increase in infectious diseases. The reasons for this are climate change, globalization, and increasing antibiotic resistance.

According to infectious disease specialist Christoph Lübbert, 50 to 60 percent of relevant infectious diseases could occur more frequently due to global warming. This mainly affects diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. However, bacterial infections could also increase due to the warming of the oceans, and the aging population also contributes to the increase in infectious diseases.

In order to be able to treat complex infections at the highest level, specialized medical personnel are urgently required. According to a needs analysis, 1,000 doctors with infectious disease expertise or at least 500 specialist doctors with a three-year training are required. "Patients with severe infections have a significantly better course of illness and are less likely to die if infectious disease specialists are involved in the treatment," said Susanne Herold, head of the Infectious Diseases Department at the University Hospital Giessen. Despite these findings and recommendations, many major hospitals currently do not have departments with a focus on infectious diseases.

The implementation of the training program in infectious diseases, which was decided upon at the German Medical Congress in 2021, is now the responsibility of the individual federal states. Fortunately, most state medical associations have already taken measures to implement this training. The 16th Congress on Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine took place from June 14th to 17th in Leipzig. The event, organized by the Paul Ehrlich Society for Infection Therapy (PEG) in cooperation with the German AIDS Society (DAIG), the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI), the German Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (DGPI), and the German Society for Tropical Medicine, Travel Medicine, and Global Health (DTG), was held in person for the first time in five years.