Present and future treatment strategies for infectious diseases in the intensive care unit

Infectious diseases cause a wide range of problems, including increased morbidity and mortality among patients, spread of infection, and induction of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Disease severity is also an issue. Infection control is a global issue and very important in a single intensive-care unit. Sawa et al. described the current status of bacteriophage therapy as an alternative to antibiotic treatment for severe bacterial infections. Phage therapy has proven to be effective in multiple clinical cases, particularly in patients with severe infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. As a future treatment strategy, the use of antibiotics in conjunction with antibiotics might improve outcomes. Suzuki et al. presented a narrative review of probiotic treatment in an intensive-care unit. Probiotics are expected to prevent diarrhea and secondary infections by modulating immune responses, restoring the microbial balance, and reducing intestinal inflammation. However, evaluating probiotic efficacy remains challenging owing to the lack of standardized markers and the influence of confounding factors, such as antacid use.

This thematic series teaches us that, in addition to demonstrating how to administer current antimicrobial agent-centered treatments efficiently, it is important to explore new non-antimicrobial treatments for the future of intensive care.