NIVAS 2019: facing the future in vascular access and infusion therapy

Andrew Barton, Chair of NIVAS, opened the conference with a warm welcome and thanks to the conference's main sponsor, B Braun. At this year's conference, the focus was on the future of vascular access and infusion therapy, which was reflected in engaging presentations of the latest technologies in the field, research round-ups, and discussion of how the healthcare workforce will need to evolve to provide the highest quality of care for patients. Attendees were encouraged to tweet about the conference using the hashtag ‘#NIVAS2019’.

In this era of increasing antimicrobial resistance there is a need to develop new antibiotics with novel mechanisms of action. Although the development of new antibiotics has been slow, Dr Ajdukiewicz noted that odilorhabdins are a novel class of natural antibacterial agents produced by enzymes of the nematode-symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila. Odilorhabdins interfere with protein synthesis and are ribosome-targeting. They act against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae, and have demonstrated promising efficacy in mouse models.