When I studied epidemiology in the early 1980s, before the AIDS epidemic, infectious disease epidemiology was not generally taught at the school of public health. We had eradicated small pox, and we had wonderful antibiotics for common bacteremias. There was nothing to worry about infectious diseases then.

After I went back to Japan nine years ago, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus epidemics were frequently reported in the news media. However, I could not find anyone doing epidemiologic investigations. So, I started to study epidemiology of hospital infections. Currently, I have been developing a database to facilitate the outbreak investigations for health care workers with limited knowledge and experience in epidemiologic investigations.

First, I will describe epidemiology of hospital infections. Then, I will talk about my database project.