• Text in Japanese

Professor Satoshi KUTSUNA

Infection Control and Prevention

The Department of Infection Control and Prevention was established in 2003 as the Central Clinical Facility for Infection Control and Prevention of Osaka University Hospital. At the same time, a special program in the science of infection control and prevention was jointly set up with the Graduate School of Medicine. Ryota Shirakura was the first professor of the department, who was succeeded by Kazunori Asano in 2008, and from 2021, the department is led by the third professor, Satoshi Kutsuna.

Establishment of research for COVID-19 and future emerging infectious diseases and fostering of human resources who will be next-generation leaders of medical care for infectious diseases

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is sometimes described as a once-in-a-century pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1918. This infectious disease has fundamentally shaken the world and is still having a significant impact. The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the technology for diagnosing, treating, and preventing infectious diseases. Testing systems, including PCR testing, have been strengthened, and vaccines using new platforms such as mRNA vaccines have been developed faster than expected.

I have been involved in research on the acquired immunity in patients who have recovered from COVID-19, registry based studies for collecting patient data, and developing a convalescent plasma therapy. Building on my experience, I would like to further develop research in the Department of Infection Control and Prevention, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University.

No one knows if the next epidemic of an infectious disease on the scale of COVID-19 will only occur after a century. It may be in 50 years or 5 years. It is hoped that the research results obtained from the COVID-19 pandemic will be used as a legacy to build a research system to prepare for epidemics of newly emerging infectious diseases.

One of the challenges identified by the COVID-19 pandemic is the shortage of infectious disease specialists. As of July 2021, the number of specialists in the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases is about 1,600, which is not enough compared to other fields. In the field of infectious diseases, the importance of proper use of antibacterial drugs has increased in recent years due to the increase in drug-resistant bacteria, and the demand for infectious disease specialists is increasing. In addition, under the COVID-19 pandemic, many medical institutions lacked infectious disease specialists who should have been leaders in in-hospital medical care. Under these circumstances, training of infectious disease specialists is an urgent issue. We are in an era where medical professionals engaged in infectious disease medical care and infection control, such as infection control nurses, bacterial test technicians, and pharmacists, in addition to infectious disease specialist doctors/physicians, are more sought-after than ever.

Osaka University established the Osaka University Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER) in 2021 as a base for research and education in preparation for the threat of emerging infectious diseases that may occur in the future. We at the Department of Infection Control and Prevention will collaborate with CiDER to foster human resources who will be next-generation leaders in infectious disease medical care and infection control. In particular, we will train “Physician-scientists” who not only can practice infectious disease medical care and infection control based on evidence but can also disseminate the evidence from clinical practice. In this way, we will contribute to regional, national, and global infectious disease control.