Infectious Diseases Department II

The Department of Infectious Diseases II was established in 2010. It is a key discipline for infectious diseases in Zhejiang Province, a provincial regional specialty disease center, an AIDS Diagnosis and Treatment Center, the Hangzhou AIDS Research Institute, the Hangzhou AIDS Quality Control Center, one of Hangzhou’s first municipal specialty diagnosis and treatment centers, and a key discipline of Hangzhou Xixi Hospital. In 2023, it was approved as a National 21st Youth Civilization Unit and a Provincial Women’s Civilization Post.

The department currently has 28 medical and nursing staff members, including 1 PhD holder, 1 doctoral student, 9 master’s degree holders, and a proportion of senior professional titles reaching 30%. Since 2014, it has provided one-stop outpatient management services. It is one of the national AIDS demonstration areas. The outpatient service has 5 case managers and 9 specialist physicians, and the follow-up rate and viral suppression rate of people living with HIV managed in the outpatient service are both among the highest in the province. Established in 2002, the AIDS “Care Home” was the first public-welfare organization in Zhejiang Province dedicated to caring for AIDS patients and people living with HIV. It received high praise from UNAIDS in 2019. The social organization is now renamed the “Hangzhou Xixi AIDS Care Service Center” and continues to rely on social organizations to provide assistance and care for people living with HIV.

As a designated AIDS treatment unit in Hangzhou, the ward has 42 open beds. It has accumulated extensive clinical experience in diagnosing and treating opportunistic infections in AIDS, including Pneumocystis jirovecii, cryptococcosis, Talaromyces marneffei infection, and nontuberculous mycobacterial infection, as well as AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Its main diagnostic and treatment specialties include comprehensive management of HIV comorbidities, such as HIV with hyperlipidemia, HIV with obesity, and HIV with hyperuricemia; it also makes full use of the strengths of traditional Chinese medicine to provide syndrome-based treatment for HIV-associated poor immune reconstitution, HIV-related fatigue, and other conditions. Multidisciplinary cooperation is used to diagnose and treat patients with AIDS, meeting their comprehensive medical needs at our hospital and effectively resolving difficulties in their treatment. The hospital provides surgical treatment for people living with HIV in neurosurgery, general surgery, orthopedics, thoracic surgery, urology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, stomatology, and other departments, meeting the need for surgical treatment among AIDS patients in the province. Brain biopsy in AIDS patients and ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery for AIDS patients with cryptococcal infection and intracranial hypertension are at an advanced level nationally. To better meet the diagnosis and treatment needs of critically ill AIDS patients, the department provides important life-support technologies, including high-flow nasal cannula humidified oxygen therapy for AIDS, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support (ECMO), bronchoalveolar lavage, continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), hemodialysis, and artificial liver support. The department has a high-level research team and a complete scientific research platform. It has participated in major special funds under the national 12th and 13th Five-Year Plans and the China Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation project, and has led multiple provincial- and ministerial-level research projects. It led the drafting of the Expert Consensus on HIV with Mpox, the Expert Consensus on Weight Management in Patients with Obesity after Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV Infection, and the Expert Consensus on the Management of HIV-Related Mental Disorders; it has contributed to several monographs. A single SCI article achieved an SCI impact factor of 10.9, and more than 20 SCI papers have been published in the past two years. The National Center for Infectious Diseases has awarded it the title of “Benchmark Unit for Standardized HIV Medical Services.” Each year, it undertakes theoretical training for backbone physicians in AIDS diagnosis and treatment in Zhejiang Province, as well as clinical doctors’ and case managers’ advanced practical training. It is also the chairing and deputy-chairing organization of the AIDS Exposure Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment Quality Control Management Professional Committee and the Nursing and Care Professional Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Association for AIDS and STD Prevention and Control.