The Medical Mycology Training Network (MMTN) conference in Penang, Malaysia, was a great success with standing room only for the 1.5-day event. Held on 20–21 July 2019, the conference was well attended by close to 100 participants from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
The meeting hosted a lively faculty of international and local experts in medical mycology. Participants were multidisciplinary – including infectious disease physicians, critical care physicians, hemato-oncologists, microbiologists and ICU pharmacists – all with a keen interest to improve the diagnosis and management of fungal diseases.
The scientific program covered many hot topics in medical mycology. Some new and highly popular sessions included:
- How to diagnose and manage Candida auris?
- What are the 5 key controversies in mycology?
- 10 common mistakes in clinical and laboratory mycology
- How do I interpret Candida in different samples (urine/respiratory secretions/abdominal drains)?
- How do I interpret serum galactomannan/beta-D-glucan/procalcitonin levels?
The program was interactive with workshops where participants engaged in heated group discussion about challenging clinical cases and subsequently presented their approaches to the faculty and the entire audience. The diagnostic mycology workshop catered to microbiologists, with sessions on laboratory identification of molds, dermatophytes, yeasts and zygomycetes, rapid diagnostics and fungal antigen assays.
