Infectious diseases (medical specialty)

Infectious diseases
	Gram stain of bacteria: a test frequently performed in infectiology to distinguish between different types of bacteria.
Synonym	Infectiology, infectious medicine, ID
Significant diseases	Infections, e.g. osteomyelitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, influenza, also public health issues e.g. epidemics, antimicrobial resistance, bioterrorism
Significant tests	Gram staining, microbiological cultures (including blood cultures), serological tests, genotyping, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), medical imaging
Specialist	Infectious diseases specialist, Infectiologist, Infectionist
Glossary	Glossary of medicine

Infectious diseases (ID), also known as infectiology, is a medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of infections. An infectious diseases specialist's practice consists of managing nosocomial (healthcare-acquired) infections or community-acquired infections.^[1] An ID specialist investigates and determines the cause of a disease (bacteria, virus, parasite, fungus or prions). Once the cause is known, an ID specialist can then run various tests to determine the best drug to treat the disease.^[2] While infectious diseases have always been around, the infectious disease specialty did not exist until the late 1900s after scientists and physicians in the 19th century paved the way with research on the sources of infectious disease and the development of vaccines.^[3]^[4]^[5]

^ Mehta Y, Gupta A, Todi S, Myatra S, Samaddar DP, Patil V, et al. (March 2014). "Guidelines for prevention of hospital acquired infections". Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine. 18 (3): 149–163. doi:10.4103/0972-5229.128705. PMC 3963198. PMID 24701065.
^ "Diagnosis of Infectious Disease – Infections". Merck Manuals Consumer Version. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
^ "A Day in the Life of an Infectious Disease Specialist". ebsco.com. Retrieved 2023-03-23.
^ Sakai T, Morimoto Y (October 2022). "The History of Infectious Diseases and Medicine". Pathogens. 11 (10): 1147. doi:10.3390/pathogens11101147. PMC 9609744. PMID 36297204.
^ Cavaillon JM, Legout S (April 2022). "Louis Pasteur: Between Myth and Reality". Biomolecules. 12 (4): 596. doi:10.3390/biom12040596. PMC 9027159. PMID 35454184.

[1] Mehta Y, Gupta A, Todi S, Myatra S, Samaddar DP, Patil V, et al. (March 2014). "Guidelines for prevention of hospital acquired infections". Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine. 18 (3): 149–163. doi:10.4103/0972-5229.128705. PMC 3963198. PMID 24701065.

[:13-2] "Diagnosis of Infectious Disease – Infections". Merck Manuals Consumer Version. Retrieved 2023-03-23.

[:22-3] "A Day in the Life of an Infectious Disease Specialist". ebsco.com. Retrieved 2023-03-23.

[:02-4] Sakai T, Morimoto Y (October 2022). "The History of Infectious Diseases and Medicine". Pathogens. 11 (10): 1147. doi:10.3390/pathogens11101147. PMC 9609744. PMID 36297204.

[:32-5] Cavaillon JM, Legout S (April 2022). "Louis Pasteur: Between Myth and Reality". Biomolecules. 12 (4): 596. doi:10.3390/biom12040596. PMC 9027159. PMID 35454184.

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