ANESTHESIA AND EMERGING INFECTIOUS-DISEASES

New infectious diseases and microorganisms continue to be described Th ey may be blood- or arthropod-borne, or spread by the respiratory sexu al or faecal-oral route; in some cases, modes of transmission remain u nknown or new ones have been described. Complex factors have contribut ed to the re-emergence of older pathogens in both developing and devel oped countries. Changes in medical and surgical practice have led to t he frequent description of resistant gram-positive and negative bacter ia, fungi and bacteria. Although many of the newly described agents ma y not be directly relevant to routine anaesthetic and intensive care p ractice, their impact on both patients and staff can be minimized by a dherence to rational infection control guidelines, understanding of lo cal disease and anti-microbial resistance patterns, sensible patient e valuation and access to expert advice. Given recent history, it can be expected that new microorganism; and clinical syndromes will continue to appear.