Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted in the most prominent way the devastating impact of infections in healthcare systems across the world. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in bacterial, viral, and fungal infections is fundamental and may lead to the development of novel diagnostic methods and new treatment protocols. Over the past few decades, major advances in emerging diagnostic modalities based on molecular techniques have significantly improved the detective accuracy for various pathogens. With the advent of these molecular techniques, such as the next-generation sequencing, the sensitivity of the current diagnostic protocols has significantly increased, while the unique molecular properties of each pathogen allow for a more accurate identification of the isolated microorganism in any specimen. Other biomarkers such as the soluble tumor necrosis factor and the B-cell activating factor in musculoskeletal infections, or the peptide procalcitonin in respiratory infections, also have promising results and can help in detection of such infections, or in distinguishing bacterial from viral infections. Moreover, the devastating impact of increased microbial resistance due to the uncontrolled use of antibiotics has led to the development of multiresistant pathogens. These pathogens have increased the mortality rate of infected patients, especially in intensive care units. However, the development of novel antibiotic agents with extended coverage to these multiresistant pathogens has provided clinicians with additional options in their fight against these fatal infections.

Our target in this Special Issue is to present recent advances in diagnostic modalities and treatment protocols of infections in various fields of medicine, while also gathering up-to-date information on the risk factors, prognosis, and pathogenetic mechanisms that are involved in the development of infectious diseases. Basic research articles, observational studies, clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and narrative reviews on the topic of interest will be considered for this Special Issue.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Biology.

Dr. Andreas G. Tsantes
Dr. Dimitrios V. Papadopoulos
Dr. Rozeta Sokou
Dr. Vanesa Bellou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• infectious diseases
• pathophysiology
• risk factors
• prognosis
• diagnostic methods
• biomarkers
• molecular techniques
• treatment protocols
• novel antibiotic