[Present status and problems of clinical bacteriology]

This symposium was made to clear the problems of clinical microbiology and discussed on the accurate identification of an etiological agent from a clinical specimen, proper specimen collection, susceptibility testing and the mechanism of antimicrobial resistance of bacteria. Some difficulties arise in the entire process of making use of a clinical microbiology laboratory, ranging from specimen collection to interpretation of results. One of the major limitations in the accurate identification of an etiological agent is imposed by poor communication between clinician and laboratory personnel. A number of problems in the entire process, from specimen collection to the interpretation of results, have remained unresolved. It came to the conclusion that important things are the information required to make a clinical decision, clear guidelines for specimen collection, rapid specimen transport, rapid transmission of the results and the establishment of a dialogue between clinician and microbiologist.