V IACMAC INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE V IACMAC INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE «ANTIMICROBIAL THERAPY» «ANTIMICROBIAL THERAPY»
Moscow, 4-6 June 2002The Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (IACMAC, Russia), an organization of clinical pharmacologists, microbiologists, physicians and infectious diseases specialists was founded in 1997 to improve quality of diagnostics, prophylaxis and treatment of infectious diseases and to develop research in the field of antimicrobial chemotherapy and clinical microbiology in Russian Federation. To fulfill its objective, annual international conferences have been organized by IACMAC since 1997. In the year of 2002 the conference was traditionally organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Smolensk. The organizers would also like to express their gratitude to ISC, ASM, ESCMID, BSAC, SIC, S.E.Q., APUA for the continuous support of the conference. The conference also received generous support from several pharmaceutical companies. The platinum sponsors of the conference were MSD, Pfizer, and Zambon Group. The V anniversary conference has been a great success. Over 1,500 participants from 76 regions and 130 cities of Russian Federation and countries of the former Soviet Union have attended the scientific meeting. Physicians (77%), microbiologists (14%), clinical pharmacologists (8.5%), and epidemiologists (0.5%) made up the audience. For the publication over 332 abstracts were submitted and 26.5% of them were selected. This year, on June 4th the conference was preceded by the workshop for microbiologists «Modern models of monitoring of antimicrobial resistance and possibilities of their use in Russia». The European, American and pharmaceutical industry views on determination of susceptibility to antimicrobials were presented by D. Williams (UK), J. Hindler (USA), J. Poupard (USA), and G. Kahlmeter (Sweden). S. Sidorenko uncovered specific problems of susceptibility testing in Russia. More than 150 participants attended the workshop. The opening ceremony of the conference was held in the afternoon on June 4th. S. Tkachenko, J.C. Pechere, D. Williams, G. Cornaglia, and T. Mazzei presented welcome addresses on behalf of the Ministry of Health of Russia and international societies. The keynote lecture of J.C. Pechere «The Human and the Bacterium: could Goliath win?» has given an exceptional onset for the conference. The Russian folklore ensemble of Dmitry Pokrovsky has performed at the conclusion of the opening ceremony. Plenary sessions until midday and official symposia afterwards were held from June 5th through June 6th. Overall, 36 lectures were presented on three plenary sessions and six symposia. Among all, 19 foreign lecturers have presented 22 lectures and Russian speakers have lectured 14. The conference coverage included issues of bioterrorism, new therapeutic options for community-acquired and nosocomial infections caused by various bacterial pathogens, new possibilities in the therapy of viral infections, strategies for selection of antibacterial agents in hospital and intensive care units, and general perspectives of anti-infective therapy in the new millennium. Special symposia were devoted to the therapy of sepsis, urinary tract infections, community-acquired pneumonia and current approaches to overcoming of resistance of P.aeruginosa. It is necessary to mention that all lectures and slide presentations were translated simultaneously into Russian and English. The attendees pointed out onto high level of lectures and organization. The problems raised and solutions proposed at the lectures and during debates gained much attention from the participants. The speakers have received very enthusiastic response from the audience in general. The attendees had the unique opportunity to listen to and discuss topics with international specialists. The participants from Irkutsk, Penza, Ufa, Murmansk, Krasnodar, Kiev, and Tashkent addressed many important questions to the foreign speakers. The shared experience and opportunity of such appreciative collaboration is to be continued next year. To the extension of tradition of partnership, on May 29-30, 2003 in Moscow, Russia the conference «Surgical infections: prevention and management» will be held. The conference is under the ensign of Drug Management Series - an international initiative proposed by ISC and supported by IACMAC. Colloquium «Antibiotics Without Ties»Foreign speakers of the conference with their family members have joined physicians and microbiologists from all over Russia in the post conference boat tour to Saint Petersburg and to the most beautiful islands of Russian North - Valaam and Kizhi which are situated in the Ladoga and Onega lakes. Within the program of the tour on June 9-10th the colloquium «Antibiotics without Ties» was held. Important and ambiguous topics of antimicrobial therapy were uncovered in the magnificent atmosphere of white nights. In particular, 10 lecturers were presented by 4 foreign and 6 Russian speakers. The questions discussed included peculiarities of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antibiotics (M. Jacobs, USA). The necessity of new agents for the treatment of fungal infections (N. Klimko, Russia) and staphylococcal and enterococcal infections (J.C. Pechere, Switzerland) as long as the place of «immortal» drug amoxicillin/clavulanate (P. Appelbaum, USA) were considered. Other lectures presented dealt with the issues of the role of intravenous fluoroquinolones in the treatment of severe infections (E. Rubinstein, Israel) and perspectives of step-down therapy of infections in hospitalized patients (L. Stratchounski, Russia). It is necessary to mention that as at the «big» conference all lectures and slide presentations were translated simultaneously into Russian and English. All tour participants have pointed the great opportunity to get into professional contacts with the foreign specialists and to review current problems of chemotherapy in the informal atmosphere. On the other hand, many foreign guests have never seen the countryside of Russia and this rendered chance was very positively evaluated. In general, all participants as the necessary part of IACMAC conferences considered the tradition of holding post-conference tours, and this request will be by no means taken into account by the organizers of future meetings. Dmitry Galkin See also: Programme of Conference, Photos
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