Paediatric infectious diseases: the last 50 years.

Many advances and challenges have occurred in the field of paediatric infectious diseases during the past 50 years. It is impossible to cover all of these in a short review, but a few highlights and lowlights will be covered. These include virtual disappearance of some infectious diseases, emergence of new ones, infections in the immunocompromised, antimicrobial resistance, development of new and improved antimicrobials, improved diagnostic tests and the Human Microbiome Project.