Florence, Italy. December 2009
Dear Friends,
During the 26th International Congress of Chemotherapy held in Toronto last June, the ISC changed its Executive Committee, starting with me as new President, Kurt Naber as Past-President, Ian Gould as Secretary General and Po-Ren Hsueh as Honorary Treasurer. Five new members have been elected: Shigeru Kohno (Japan) who was also elected as Vice-President Andy Hoepelman (The Netherlands), Raphael Saginur (Canada), Francesco Scaglione (Italy), and Fred Tenover (U.S.A.). We have also added two new co-opted members: Andrè Lomar, (Argentina) and David Paterson (Australia) and two ex-officio members: Andrea Novelli (FESCI President, Italy) and Wing-Hong Seto (WPSC President). This new Executive Committee represents the activities of our federation, which is made up of affiliated Societies, and embraces representatives from National Societies from South America to Taiwan and Australia including many European Countries.
At its fist meeting held during ICAAC in San Francisco, the new Executive Committee looked at ways to fulfil its mission as a charity, as stipulated in its constitution. It was decided that the principal initiatives in the near future will be to make funds available for scholarships, fellowships and awards to promote a professional education to graduate students in clinical microbiology, clinical pharmacology, infections diseases, antitumoral chemotherapy, etc. Details on how to apply for these fellowships will be made available on the ISC website early in 2010: www.ischemo.org I hope that this initiative will be useful in promoting the education and science of the therapy of infection and cancer, especially for young people coming from countries with limited resources.
On behalf of the Executive Committee I take the occasion of my first newsletter to wish to all of you and your families best wishes for Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
ISC Sections / Working Groups
The ISC currently has 17 Sections / Working Groups, which are listed at www.ischemo.org/02_Sections.htm. The work of two is highlighted below.
The ISC Working Group on Antimicrobial Stewardship is one of the most recently established groups and is co-chaired by Jim Hutchinson (Canada) and Gabriel Levy Hara (Argentina).
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent threats facing people from all parts of the world. The ISC is in an excellent position to help address the issue by fostering collaboration on a global scale.
The aims of the Working Group are
1. To create a worldwide web-based compilation of antimicrobial stewardship efforts and activities, the people involved with them, their products and accomplishments. This internet database and interface will display the collected information and promote sharing.
This content management software will be used as a platform for further Antimicrobial Stewardship Working Group initiatives, that might include the design, in cooperation with related scientific societies, governmental and non- governmental organizations:
- international studies of antimicrobial consumption in all five continents encouraging the use of ABC Calc to measure consumption and interrupted time series (ITS) for analysis of data.
- distance learning courses to address specific and locally prevalent problems (e.g., rational management of URI, principles and experiences with antimicrobial stewardship programs, frequent problems regarding antimicrobial use in the elderly, etc
2. To work with pharmacists of the different countries in common aspects (regulation, educational programs) regarding use and misuse of antimicrobials.
3. To advocate for the regulation of sales and distribution of antimicrobials worldwide.
4. To hold meetings to highlight stewardship issues.
Participation
We are inviting you / your designee / colleague of your society and/or country working on antimicrobial stewardship- to join us in this new project. If you want to join us, please contact Dr. Gabriel Levy Hara (glevyhara@fibertel.com.ar).
This group has several work streams. The most adventurous, led by Prof. Peter Appelbaum on detection of hGISA, presented a poster at ICAAC and will publish a paper shortly. Other areas of work include establishing registries of PVL cases, animal MRSA and admission screening. The group is working with the ISC Working Group on Skin & Soft Tissue Infections (SSTI) under Prof. Silvano Esposito on guidelines for the treatment of SSTI and plans to hold joint meetings in the UK and Italy on this. In conjunction with ESCMID, the group is organising a Consensus Conference in Rome in March 2010 on three aspects of MRSA: treatment, admission screening and staff screening. Guidelines in these areas will be produced with a view to publishing them. Symposia are being organised for the Asian Congress of Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ACPID) and the International Staphylococcal Symposium (ISSSI).
ISC Meetings
Further information may be found at www.ischemo.org/08_Meetings.htm. Two meetings are highlighted as follows:
Spring 2010 , Palazzo Feltrinelli, Gargnano, Italy
Summer School on Anti-Infective Pharmacology
For further information, contact |
The Italian Society of Chemotherapy in conjunction with the ISC and FESCI has organised a summer school.
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| 6 – 9 May 2010, Varna, Bulgaria 1st Southeast European Conference of Chemotherapy and Infection |
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This is the first conference of Southeast European and neighbouring countries covering both infectious diseases and cancer topics. The main focus will be problems relevant to this geographical area. Many societies have been involved in compiling the preliminary programme and each has organized / sponsored one (part) symposium. Currently there are plans for 24 symposia running in parallel sessions as well as oral communication sessions and posters. This conference will also provide an important platform for the exchange of scientific information, knowledge and friendship among countries which, although geographically close, have historically been culturally very diverse. Further information available from:www.seecch2010.org seecch2010@abv.bg |
Professor Teresita Mazzei
ISC President
teresita.mazzei@unifi.i