To update or not to update the ESCMID guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of biofilm infections – That is the question! The opinion of the ESGB board

Background

The work on the ESGB guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of biofilm infections began in 2012 and the result was published in 2014. The guidelines have been and still are frequently cited in the literature proving its usefulness for people working with biofilm infections. At the ESGB Biofilm conference in Mallorca 2022 (Eurobiofilms2022) the board of the ESGB decided to evaluate the 2014-guidelines and relevant publications since 2014 based on a lecture given at the Eurobiofilms2022.

Guideline methods

The Delphi method for working on production of guidelines and the current ESCMID rules for guidelines are presented. The criteria for evaluation of relevant literature are very strict and especially for treatment, most clinicians and regulatory authorities require convincing results from Level I (randomized controlled trials) publications to justify changes of treatments. The relevant new biofilm literature and the relevant biofilm presentations from the Eurobiofilms meetings and ECCMID conferences was used for evaluating the contemporary relevance of the ESGB 2014 guidelines.

Diagnosis of biofilm infections

Several infectious diseases have been recognized as biofilm infections since 2014, but the diagnostic methods and therapeutic strategies are still the same as recommended in the 2014 ESGB guidelines which are summarized in this opinion paper.

Treatment of biofilm infections

Some promising new in vitro and in vivo (animal experiments) observations and reports for therapy of biofilm infections are mentioned, but they still await clinical trials.

Conclusion

The interim opinion at the present time (2022) is therefore, that the guidelines do not need revision now, but there is a need for survey articles discussing new methods of diagnosis and treatment of biofilm infections in order - hopefully – to give inspiration to conduct clinical trials which may lead to progress in diagnosis and treatment of patients with biofilm infections.