Institute of Microbiology and Virology

Today infectious diseases (ID) are a major medical problem since, despite all advances in modern medicine, the available therapeutics and vaccines are limited. Globalization and the high dynamic of the modern societies are driving forces for the rapid spread and worldwide occurrence of ID. Severe sociological and ecological changes, climate change, the rapid increase in the world population to an estimated 9 billion people by the year 2040, and the rapidly expanding, highly mobile world trade, particularly favor the occurrence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (EID) in humans and animals. EID can now spread globally very quickly, even if they reside only in remote areas of the globe with limited human access. Arthropod-borne and zoonotic viruses play a key role in EID.

In the field of bacteriology, the global emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Staphylococci, Enterobateriacea and M. tuberculosis is a rapidly developing problem of our time. Multidrug-resistant bacteria carry genes which allow them to inactivate different antibiotics rapidly. As a consequence we face an increasing number of barely controllable cases of ID. This requires an interdisciplinary collaboration of all clinical subjects with microbiology / infectiology, pharmacology and hospital hygiene.

New viral infections and multiresistant bacteria present a particular risk for immunodeficient and elderly people.  Thus the rapid detection of EID, the understanding of molecular pathomechanisms and the host/pathogene interaction are the main focus of our research activities at the Institute of Microbiology and Virology of the Brandenburg Medical School.

Contact: (phone) +49 3573 85-941, (email) mikrobiologie@mhb-fontane.de .

For more details (in German) see here.