An internationally prominent Wayne State University researcher on infectious diseases, Michael J. Rybak, PharmD, MPH, recently returned from a five-city lecture tour in China, updating 4,000 physicians, microbiologists, and pharmacists on the latest clinical guidelines for the treatment of a bacteria resistant to antibiotics.

"For more than 50 years, clinicians in the United States have treated and managed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which is a cause of both health care-associated and community-associated infections," said Rybak, professor and director of the Anti-infective Research Laboratory, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. "MRSA is a growing and major issue for clinicians in China,' he said.

In response to controlling this problem, the Content Ed Net (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, a medical education company, invited Rybak and colleague Catherine Liu, MD, an infectious disease physician in San Francisco, to lecture May 22-26 at a seminar on "Best Practices on MRSA Clinical Guidelines." Both Rybak and Liu serve on a 13-member expert panel of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. In 2011, the panel published clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of MRSA in adults and children.

"The MRSA guidelines were developed specifically to assist the clinician in the decision-making process of selecting therapy and monitoring patient progress for the bacterial pathogen that is associated with high mortality rates and considerably health care costs," Rybak said.

The two specialists in infectious diseases lectured in a series of symposia in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou. The lectures were teleconferenced across an additional 38 cities. Liu, lead author on the clinical practice guidelines, spoke on the MRSA guidelines. Rybak lectured on vancomycin dosing and monitoring consensus guidelines, for which he was lead author on 2009 paper. "The vancomycin consensus guidelines were developed to provide the most optimal and safest therapy to improve patient outcomes with MRSA infections," Rybak said.

In addition, a local clinical microbiologist and infectious disease expert spoke on the Chinese MRSA infection rates and antibiotic resistance trends. A panel discussion followed the individual presentations; meeting attendees, including those in the teleconferenced cities, were able to ask questions of the panelists.

The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, one of the founding colleges of Wayne State University, is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society through the preparation of highly skilled health care practitioners, and through research to improve health care practices and treatment from urban to global levels.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.

July 12, 2012

Contact: Kathleen J. Karas, APR
Phone: (313) 577-2312
Email: kkaras@wayne.edu

Drs. Liu (left, third) and Rybak (left, fourth) with members of the "Best Practices on MRSA Clinical Guidelines" panel.