11^th International Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases May 27-28, 2022 Rome, Italy

Hector Magno is a researcher, data analyst, and software developer. He attended UC Berkeley as a Regent and Chancellor’s Scholar and earned a degree in Computer Science. He also attended UC Berkeley as a National Science Foundation fellow, earned a graduate degree in Computer Science, and received the National Science Foundation Award in Mathematics.

Measuring the Benefits of Mass Vaccination Programs in the United States: Since the late 1940s, mass vaccination programs in the USA have contributed to the significantly reduced morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases. To assist the evaluation of the benefits of mass vaccination programs, the number of individuals who would have suffered death or permanent disability in the USA in 2014, had mass vaccination never been implemented, was estimated for measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B, varicella, and human papillomavirus (HPV). The estimates accounted for mortality and morbidity trends observed for these infections prior to mass vaccination and the impact of advances in standard of living and health care. The estimates also considered populations with and without known factors leading to an elevated risk of permanent injury from infection. Mass vaccination prevented an estimated 20 million infections and 12,000 deaths and permanent disabilities in 2014, including 10,800 deaths and permanent disabilities in persons at elevated risk. Though 9000 of the estimated prevented deaths were from liver cirrhosis and cancer, mass vaccination programs have not, at this point, shown empirical impacts on the prevalence of those conditions. Future studies can refine these estimates, assess the impact of adjusting estimation assumptions, and consider additional risk factors that lead to heightened risk of permanent harm from infection.

Vincent Xin is an 11th grade student at Shanghai American School Puxi with a passion for STEM, especially the field of microbiology. A member of the Science National Honor Society, Vincent has been conducting and presenting research for over 3 years. He spent two summers doing research projects in the clinical laboratory at Renji Hospital, which is affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, under the supervision of clinical microbiologist Qin Juanxiu, M.S.. With these research projects, Vincent participated in several international and national science fairs, earning a top 5 finish at 2019 Sichuan Intel Cup and attending Intel ISEF 2019( International Science and Engineering Fair) as a finalist.

Biofilms play a key role in bacterial resistance against antibiotics. Formation of biofilms enables S. epidermidis to become established in hospital environments and be a major cause of nosocomial infections . 50% of clinical isolated S. epidermidis from inpatients at Shanghai Renji Hospital are biofilm-forming, 95% are methicillin-resistant. Formation of biofilms and antibiotic-resistant strains render S. epidermidis infections a serious health issure—single antibiotic treatment often fails and removal of the infected catheter or prostheses is required. The development of more effective methods of treating biofilm-involved S. epidermidis infections will be a major step forward to counter such infections. To simulate S. epidermidis biofilm-involved infections, the two chosen clinical isolates were the most prevalent strains at Renji: biofilm-forming and methicillin-resistant. This study confirmed the significant presence of eProteins and eDNA in S. epidermidis biofilms, and found that the most effective biofilm degradation (52.5%) is achieved by the dual degradation method of protease K 1U/ml, 2hrs, and DNase 20ug/ml, 12 hrs. Pre-treating biofilm with this method enhances bactericidal efficacy of Vancomycin and Linezolid by >90% (P<0.001).This study proved the effectiveness of the novel Protease +DNase +antibiotic combination treatment for treating biofilm-involved infections by reducing biofilm biomass and enhancing the bactericidal effect of antibiotics.