Dear Colleagues,

Biocidal products are relevant for the control of infections and should be used in a targeted way. During the pandemic, however, many hand and surface disinfectants were used in a general non-targeted way in public and private areas. Depending on the type of biocidal agents, exposure to subinhibitory concentration may cause an adaptive bacterial response resulting in a lower cellular susceptibility to the biocidal agent or to other biocidal agents, or even to antibiotics (cross-resistance).

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Frequency and relevance of biocide resistance;
• Mechanisms of tolerance;
• Case reports (reduced cellular susceptibility, e.g., resulting in infection or food contamination);
• Adaptive cellular effects of excessive disinfection measures in public places;
• Evidence-based proposals for a targeted use of biocidal agents for the prevention of infectious disease;
• Relevance of antimicrobial surface coating on bacterial tolerance;
• Strategies for containment of biocide resistance;
• Relevance of biofilms for biocide resistance;
• Proposals for evidence-based definitions of biocidal tolerance and resistance.

Prof. Dr. Günter Kampf
Guest Editor

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