A medical student's perspective of ESCMID Global

So I was doing my neurology placement at Queen Square, the UK's largest dedicated neurological and neurosurgical hospital. My supervisor introduced me to a patient which they didn’t know what was going on. He presented with weakness on his right side and no one knew what was going on since he was only 23 years old. I asked my supervisor if I could write this up and continue to look into this patient. I followed up with the patient and eventually they got to a diagnosis, but it took a long time. 

The patient emigrated from Sudan through northern Africa, into Europe via Italy and then up to the United Kingdom earlier that year. After a number of tests over 2 weeks, it was determined that it was a case of cerebral schistosomiasis.

The usual culprit is Schistosoma japonicum (found in China, Indonesia and the Philippines) for cerebral schistosomiasis due to its smaller egg size and rounded shape. This case is uniquely interesting because it was due to an infection of Schistosoma mansoni (found in sub-Saharan Africa and South America). This species produces a larger-sized egg with a spiny shape which usually means that the eggs are retained in the lower spinal cord instead of being able to travel up into the brain.

I consented the patient, wrote up the reports, discussed with the neurology doctors about the reports and had the opportunity to present it at a grand round at a neurology hospital which was a good insight into what it’s like to give a talk and give a presentation. 

Then it was at that point that I thought well this is a good infection case. We worked a lot with some of the parasitologists, and it was really a not just a neurology case but also an infectious diseases (ID) case. 

I went onto Google and searched for infectious diseases conferences and came across ESCMID. I’d never heard of it and explored a bit and thought it was quite good and I discovered the Clinical Grand Rounds and thought that was quite nice having the trainees present the cases.

Initially I was unsure if medical students could apply but asked the office team and they said sure, you’re more than welcome to submit. I ended up submitting and thought why not, maybe I’ll get accepted or even just a poster or presentation would be fine, then one afternoon I got the email, and my case had been selected for the Clinical Grand Rounds. 

It was only really after that, that I discovered how big ESCMID Global is. I didn’t realise that over 18,000 people come here and how big the audiences are and how popular the grand round is at ESCMID Global.

So this is my first-ever medical conference. I had always heard about them from other doctors that this is what you do, come and present your work but I never knew what it entailed until I arrived on Friday morning. 

What I appreciated most is the value of the networking. A lot of the presentations you can watch afterwards but for me I enjoyed meeting colleagues and attending the poster presentations where you can have those informal discussions and everyone wants to chat and everyone is really passionate about the same thing, infectious diseases and clinical microbiology. 

For me, it shows me that there’s no boundaries in medicine. After graduation there is still so much to do and I’m looking ahead to this time next year, I’ll be hopefully going to Singapore and India and I’ve been able to meet lots of colleagues and you realise that medicine is a universal language. I saw that in the Clinical Grand Rounds where cases were presented from all around the world, and it brings together people from all sorts of backgrounds. 

So ESCMID Global is your first medical conference, have we swayed you to towards infectious diseases as a specialty?

I still have quite a bit of time to decide between my general training and then time as new doctor. I definitely want to do a rotation in ID to train in that area though. Infectious diseases is a big part in general medicine and no matter what medical specialty you go into, you come across ID. That is something I really liked is that at conferences like ESCMID Global, it’s not just ID, you’ve got some cardiology or respiratory cases as well since it touches a lot of the other medical specialties.

I’m also very interested in ESCMID and the opportunities and support that you offer. I know there is a lot of support for young scientists and trainees which is important in the current climate. I’m keen to continue my membership and explore the society further.