Geneva, June 2004

Welcome from Geneva,

ISC is changing rapidly. In particular, we organize more and more activities. In order to keep our network well informed without delay, and to introduce more interactivity, we will send you regularly a letter by e-mail, called ISC-on-LINE. We will keep it concise and friendly: we like it short and frequent, no attachment, just a link to our website when required, a lively style and many pictures.

I am sure you are already familiar with our DMS, Disease Management Series that we organize in collaboration with one or several ISC society members: well focussed topics, top faculty, one session at a time, attendance by the hundreds rather than by the thousands, generous time slots for the discussion, and of course, from pole to pole. We have covered so far:

• UTI in Budapest January 2003
• Surgical Infections in Moscow June 2003
• Community acquired Pneumonia in Toronto September 2003
• Microbial Resistance in Monte Carlo November 2003
• Modern Pharmacotherapy in Urology in Khabarovsk Russia May 20-21

During the next weeks, we will have:

• Current Issue in Severe Sepsis in Okinawa Japan June 4, 2004
• Management of Febrile Neutropenia in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia June 20-21, 2004
• Dosing the Magic Bullets. Celebrating Paul Ehrlich's 150th birthday, Nürenberg September 9-11, 2004
• For any details on these events please click on www.ischemo.org where you will discover our fully renovated web site.

DMS’s have been extremely successful so far, and altogether, more than 2500 participants have attended at least one of them. If you want to organize a DMS in your country, you are welcome: drop me a line …

I finish this first letter by a quiz: how many days per year could be counted on earth 4 billions years ago? This is microbiology by the way… If you know, just drop me a line again!

Warm regards to all,