Infectious Diseases

The Department of Infectious Diseases at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University was established in 1952 and has now developed into a modern specialty department specializing in liver and infectious diseases that integrates medical care, teaching, and research and has gained a degree of recognition nationwide. The department is currently a designated unit under the National Clinical Key Specialty Construction Project, a key discipline of Anhui Province, an Anhui Provincial key clinical development discipline, an institution authorized to confer doctoral and master’s degrees in Infectious Diseases, and a postdoctoral research station. It serves as the vice-chair institution of the Bacterial Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention and Control Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, a standing committee member institution of the Infectious Diseases Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, the chair institution of the Infectious Diseases Branch of the Anhui Medical Association, the Infectious Disease Physicians Branch of the Anhui Medical Doctor Association, and the Bacterial Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention and Control Branch of the Anhui Medical Association, and the lead institution of the Anhui Provincial Infectious Disease Quality Control Center and the Anhui Provincial Bacterial Resistance Monitoring Center.

The department currently has 134 health professionals, including 42 physicians, 5 doctoral supervisors, 15 master’s supervisors, 26 holders of doctoral degrees, 3 doctoral students currently enrolled, and 7 holders of master’s degrees. Among the physicians, 13 are chief physicians, 10 are associate chief physicians, and 8 are attending physicians. The department also has 6 research personnel and technicians in total and 72 nurses, including 3 chief nurses, 10 associate chief nurses, and 30 nurses-in-charge. Among its personnel are 1 National Outstanding Physician, 1 person selected for the New Century Hundred-Thousand-Ten-Thousand Talent Project, 2 Jianghuai Famous Doctors, 4 Academic and Technical Leaders of Anhui Province, and 3 recipients of the Special Government Allowance of the State Council.

The department comprises 8 inpatient wards and has developed a model featuring subspecialty wards for bacterial and fungal infections, bone and joint infections, minimally invasive comprehensive treatment of cirrhosis and liver cancer, severe liver disease, emerging infectious diseases, and nonviral liver diseases, together with 2 general wards. Its outpatient services routinely include 6 expert clinics and 4 disease-specific subspecialty clinics for complex liver diseases, fever of unknown origin, comprehensive treatment of cirrhosis and liver cancer, and consultation on the clinical cure of hepatitis B.

Specialty Strengths and Technologies

The department has 326 beds, handles approximately 120,000 outpatient visits annually, admits more than 6,400 inpatients annually, and performs more than 600 surgeries annually.

The development of subspecialties and the implementation of new technologies and projects are key. The department’s current routine diagnostic and treatment services of particular strength include the following: In 2019, it introduced high-end interventional ultrasound equipment and an image-fusion navigation system, accelerating the advancement of its minimally invasive comprehensive liver cancer treatment capabilities; it can now provide a full range of minimally invasive comprehensive liver cancer treatments other than surgery, including interventional treatment, radiofrequency and microwave ablation, cryoablation, particle implantation, and targeted therapy and immunotherapy; in 2020, it introduced a new artificial liver DPMAS treatment system, cutting plasma use by two-thirds; the number of patients receiving artificial liver treatment has continued to grow, with more than 1,000 treatment sessions performed in 2024, significantly improving the efficiency and quality of liver failure treatment. In 2021, it established a precision diagnostic platform based on high-throughput sequencing of pathogenic microorganisms, greatly enhancing its capacity for precise pathogen diagnosis in infectious diseases. In 2022, it introduced a flow cytometer to establish an infection and immune testing platform for precise assessment of patients’ immune status; in 2023, it introduced a new cryoablation technique for painless treatment of liver cancer; in 2024, it introduced a liver function reserve analyzer to precisely assess patients’ hepatic functional reserve and the degree of liver injury; and in 2025, it introduced a professional body-fat analyzer to assess the nutritional status of patients with severe infectious diseases and liver disease.

Department Honors

In 2021, it was approved for the Ministry of Education’s National Demonstration Party Branch Construction Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the project passed final acceptance in 2024. In 2021, it was approved for the National Clinical Medicine Key Specialty Construction Project; in 2023, it received the First Prize of the Anhui Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award. In June 2023, it was approved as the Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory for Infectious Diseases. In 2024, the National Major Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Base Project, supported by the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, was approved. The discipline’s national ranking rose rapidly; the Department of Infectious Diseases ranked 16th nationwide in Fudan University’s 2023 National Hospital Specialty Reputation Ranking and has ranked first in Anhui Province for 10 consecutive years. In November 2024, the department was approved for 1 key project under the Regional Joint Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. In December 2024, the department became a vice-chair institution of the Bacterial Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Prevention and Control Branch of the Chinese Medical Association. At the beginning of 2025, it was awarded the Anhui Provincial Government’s Discipline Construction Project for the High-Quality Development of High-Level Hospitals.