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ISC Working Group on MRSA

Committee
Introduction
Aims of the Working Group
Work Plan
Meetings

Committee  
Chairperson

Henri A Verbrugh (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)
E-Mail: h.a.verbrugh@erasmusmc.nl

Secretary Ian M. Gould (Aberdeen, UK)
E-Mail: i.m.gould@abdn.ac.uk
Treasurer

Robert Skov (Denmark)
E-mail:  rsk@ssi.dk

Committee Members

Marc Bonten (The Netherlands)
Roberta Cauda (Italy)
Barry Cookson (UK)
Stephanie Dancer (Glasgow, UK)
Matthew Dryden (UK)
Silvano Esposito (Italy)
Javier Garau (Spain)
Tom Gottlieb (Australia)
Francesco Guidol (Spain)
Stephan Harbarth (Geneva, Switzerland)
Peter Hawkey (Leeds, UK)
Helen Heffernan (New Zealand)
Po-Ren Hsueh (Taipei, Taiwan)
Trond Jacobsen (Norway)
Vincent Jarlier (France)
Angela Kearns (UK)
Moysis Lelekis (Greece)
Fiona MacKenzie (Aberdeen, UK)
Teresita Mazzei (Florence, Italy)
John Merlino (Australia)
Marina Morgan (UK)
Christoph Naber (Essen, Germany)
Graeme Nimmo (Queensland, Australia)
Andrea Novelli (Florence, Italy)
Annalisa Pantosti (Italy)
Georg Peters (Muenster, Germany)
Francesco Scaglione (Milan, Italy)
Atef Shibl (Riaydh, Saudi Arabia)
Stefania Stefani (Catania, Italy)
Marc Struelens (Belgium)
Evalina Tacconelli (Rome, Italy)
Paul Tambyah (Singapore)
Fred Tenover (Sunnyvale, California, USA)
Pierre Vaudaux (France)
Jaana Vuopio-Varkila (Finland)
Henrik Westh (Denmark)
Wolfgang Witte (Germany)

Introduction
Multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a scourge of health services around the world. While not new - the first methicillin-resistant cases were discovered within a year of marketing this drug in 1961 and in the 1950s streptomycin / tetracycline resistant strains were problematic - it continues to evolve with new super-antigen and toxin-laden strains arising de novo in the community and causing great concern because of high transmissibility and occasional mortality.

There is little doubt that, for many countries, MRSA is the major emerging infectious disease of concern, particularly in the healthcare setting. The societal cost in the UK alone has been estimated at over £10 billion/year. The organism has a unique ability to colonise, evolve, invade tissues causing a huge variety of primary and opportunist infections, survive in the environment and spread from patient to patient, often via healthcare staff or formites. Recent elucidation of the genome of a virulent CAMRSA, USA 300, demonstrates the potential genetic diversity and prospects for further increases in pathogenicity, virulence and antibiotic resistance.

Aims of the Working Group
To foster international exchange of ideas and new research into all aspects of MRSA with a view to discovering the best control strategies.

Work Plan
1. To organise an annual workshop on MRSA.
2. To organise occasional PG educational meetings on MRSA.
3. To encourage submission of original research to the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.
4. To encourage collaborative research on MRSA.

Meetings
The ISC Working Group on MRSA has (co-)organized the following meetings and symposia:

March 2007 Symposium: “Update on MRSA” at the 25th ICC / 17th ECCMID, Munich, Germany
April 2008 2nd ISC European Conference on Bloodstream Infections, Sitges, Spain
September 2008 International Symposium for Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infection, Cairns, Australia
November 2008 European Congress of Chemotherapy, Istanbul, Turkey
December 2008 11th Western Pacific Congress on Chemotherapy and Infectious Diseases (WPCCID), Taipei, Taiwan
January 2009 9th National Conference on Bacterial Infections – IBAT 2009 and 1st ISC DMS on SSTI, Naples, Italy
Marc 2009

Staphylococcus Symposium: The evolving S. aureus epidemic – global focus on MRSA. Honolulu, Hawaii

April 2009 3rd ISC European Conference on Bloodstream Infections, Naples, Italy
June 2009 26th International Congress of Chemotherapy, Toronto, Canada
March 2010 1st MRSA Consensus Conference, Rome, Italy
May 2010 4th ISC European Conference on Blood Stream Infections, Athens, Greece
September 2010 Symposium at Asian Congress of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Taiwan
March 2011 2nd MRSA Consensus, Florence, Italy
May 2011 27th ICC Symposium, Milan, Italy
September 2011 51st ICAAC Symposium, Washington DC, USA

Note: We had a very successful first symposium organised by the Working Group at the ICC / ECCMID in Munich in 2007, with over 400 in attendance. Fewer people turned up at the first business meeting but decisions were taken to set up some sub-groups, organise a DMS meeting (probably in Edinburgh) and to set up the work packages above.

For further information on ISC meetings go to:

ISC Future Meetings
ISC Past Meetings

Last edition: Février 16, 2011

International Society of Chemotherapy
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