The Center of Infectious Diseases, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, is a diagnosis & treatment center for complicated and severe infectious diseases, and also serves as an important base for professional training and scientific research of infectious diseases. The center has 152 beds consisting of a ward for general infectious diseases, and a ward for communicable diseases, admitting more than 3,500 inpatients annually. In addition to the two wards, the center has a research laboratory for infectious diseases. The Center has Hepatitis Clinic, Diarrhea Clinic, and Infectious Diseases Clinic, providing consultation for more than 200,000 outpatients annually.
In 2018, it ranked the 9th in the “Specialty Reputation Ranking of Chinese Hospitals” released by the Hospital Management Institute of Fudan University, ranking top 10 for three years in a row.
The Center has the following subspecialties:
1. Subspecialty for viral hepatitis and other liver diseases. The subspecialists from this group are experts in the diagnosis & treatment of chronic viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, severe hepatitis/liver failure and other complicated liver diseases. This subspecialty group also focuses on the mechanisms of hepatitis viral replication and drug resistance, the pathogenesis of end-stage liver disease, and the search of new targets for the development of novel antiviral drugs. The deeper understanding of the hepatitis virus replication and the mechanisms of drug resistance contribute greatly to the better clinical management of viral hepatitis.
2. Subspecialty for artificial liver support. This subspecialty group treats a large number of patients with liver failure caused by various reasons including viruses, drugs, alcohol, mushroom poisoning, hyperthyroidism, and autoimmune liver diseases. The majority of the patients with liver failure are progressed from underlying chronic hepatitis B/cirrhosis. The severe complications include severe bacterial infections, hepatic encephalopathy, and hepatorenal syndrome.
3. Subspecialty for fever of unknown origin (FUO). Subspecialists from this group are experts in the clinical management of FUO patients coming from all over the country. With detailed history taking, physical examination, laboratory and imaging tests, most FUO patients can be eventually diagnosed. The etiologies for FUO are miscellaneous including bacterial/viral/fungal/parasitic infections, cancers, non-infectious inflammatory diseases, and diseases of the endocrine system and metabolic disorders.
4. Subspecialty for bacterial/fungal infections. This subspecialty group treats various common and rare bacterial infections, invasive fungal infections, lentivirus infections and parasitic diseases, etc. The infection sites are various including the central nervous system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the urogenital system, the skin and soft tissue system, the bone joints, the blood system and other systemic organs.
5. Subspecialty for AIDS and related disorders. Subspecialists from this group are experts in the diagnosis & treatment of AIDS and related opportunistic infections including Pneumocystis jiroveci, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium complex, Toxoplasma gondii, Varicella-zoster virus, Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum, Coccidioides immitis, Penicillium marneffei, Salmonella, and Human papillomavirus.
6. Subspecialty for tuberculosis. Subspecialists from this group are experts in the diagnosis & management of active pulmonary tuberculosis, active extrapulmonary tuberculosis (tuberculous meningitis, bone tuberculosis, liver tuberculosis, spleen tuberculosis, et al.), latent tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.
