The ESCMID team will be the first to reach the ExCel Centre in London in  order to make sure that everything is geared up for your arrival at ECCMID 2012. In the meantime we want to highlight two novel events:

• Sunday, 1 April 2012, Keynote Lecture Nobel Laureate 2011: Phylogenetic perspectives in innate immunity,
  Jules A. Hoffmann (Strasbourg, FR). 

• Tuesday, 3 April 2012, Late-breaker round table and open discussion: Flu, mutations and transmission: to publish or not
  to publish? Discuss personally with Albert Osterhaus, Ron Fouchier, Yoshihiro Kawaoka and colleagues their recent research findings on influenza virus mutations and the implications for public health. 

Fifty-two chapters prepared by over 100 authors and editors have recently been published in hardcover. Grab your copy: it’s available at ECCMID in less than 20 days. The manual covers the main areas of microbiology and represents the most up-to-date knowledge in the field in Europe.

We are glad to inform you that one of this year’s news at ECCMID will be a mobile application including updates from the ECCMID profiles on Twitter and Facebook. Our press office will also cover the social media, providing information and answering your questions before, during and after the congress.
As interaction is crucial  for ESCMID, the year 2012 marks an important milestone in communication at ECCMID, too, as we are able to provide a direct and privileged communication channel to ECCMID participants.

ECCMID is on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Linkedin events.

The publication of the Manual of Microbiology is one of the latest great achievements of ours, made possible by CM/ID experts from ESCMID and SFM. The publication will be celebrated during the 22nd ECCMID, where the manual will be available for purchase.

Today, 17 February 2012, is the deadline for submitting your abstract. This is the last chance to present your late-breaker abstract and take part in the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases-22nd ECCMID.
Please contact us at ECCMID[at]congrex.com for any issue or question regarding the registration.

A couple of months to go before ECCMID 2012, and the final detailed scientific programme is now online. Read through the programme and pick your favourite session, lecture or symposium. ECCMID also offers educational workshops, a TAE Trainees Day and highly interactive Meet-the-Expert sessions held by a representative selection of CM/ID experts. Read more about the 22nd ECCMID scientific programme.

The 2012 recipients of the Excellence Award, Young Investigator Awards, TAE Excellence Training Awards, Research Grants and Training Fellowships have just been selected. You can now discover all those who will be honoured during the forthcoming ECCMID.

Following last year’s success, the next Trainees Day session will take place at ECCMID 2012 on Saturday 31 March. Once again, there will be a highly interactive session for trainees in Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. All ESCMID members in training are strongly advised not to miss this excellent educational event. More senior members of ESCMID are expected to inform their trainees about it and encourage them to attend.

An important project that involved the Parity Commission in the last year is the creation of the ESCMID guidance on how to balance the scientific programme of ESCMID-related educational events by gender and country of origin. The Parity Commission believes that an improved balance will be reflected by a significant increase in the quality of ESCMID activities overall.
Read more and download the Guidance on How to Balance the Scientific Programme of ESCMID-Related Events.

The best way to start the year is to keep up with the times: ESCMID and ECCMID are now on social media. As we open our organisation to the new means of communication and interaction, we plan to create ESCMID and ECCMID profiles on several social media platforms so as to reach each and every one of you and many more interesting scientists for you to engage with to expand your professional network, share your insight and exchange opinions. Finally, ESCMID and ECCMID are at your disposal via social media to provide immediate responses to any questions or issues.
Join the conversation:
ESCMID is on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin.
ECCMID is on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Linkedin events.
Please sign in or sign up to the social media platforms to see and/or to join the ECCMID and ESCMID profiles.

This month the CMI editor chose an article describing the uncontrolled development in the last ten years of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) among Enterobacteriaceae and the potential harm generated by multiresistance as the number of cabapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae increases. In fact, the role of Carbapenem is crucial in the treatment of enterobacterial infections as last line of antibiotics that is still effective.

ESCMID is proud to announce the publication of the Manual of Microbiology, which can be purchased at ECCMID 2012. The Manual is the result of the work and efforts of CM/ID experts from ESCMID and SFM to present a European perspective on Clinical Microbiology.

Haven’t submitted your abstract for ECCMID 2012 yet? Do you have cutting-edge results to present? As a CM/ID leading congress, ECCMID offers you an exceptional opportunity: you may still participate by presenting your late-breaker abstract by 17 February 2012. Don’t pass up the chance!

Young ESCMID members could become the protagonists of the next four years (2012-2016) at ESCMID by joining the the TAE -Trainee Association of ESCMID- Steering Committee, as two places will be vacant in April 2012. The two new members will be elected in February 2012.

If your profile matches the candidate requirements, nominate yourself for the election from 10-31 January 2012.

The January newsletter of the TAE features the association’s latest activities and urges everyone to participate. Here are the stimulating topics: the call for candidates for the TAE Steering Committee Election; the second Trainees’ Day at ECCMID 2012 in London; the online quiz CM & ID; the TAE Excellence in Training Awards 2012, and a clear explanation of what the TAE is. Read more  and get involved in the TAE!

As the author’s article emphasises, the media have been focusing on the topic of the current CMI editor’s choice demonstrating how far the media influence can go. Some studies on the increase in hospitalizations, trends and mortality for bacterial infective endocarditis in the US—mainly caused by S. Aurerus—further aroused media interest in the subject. However, these interesting studies have a shadow side, and this article delves into the story unveiling important information.

EPASG has been showing to be a highly active  ESCMID Study Groups since its recent foundation in 2010. Read  news from the ESCMID PK/PD of the Anti-Infectives Study Group in the EPASG January newsletter. Read about the FP7 project AIDA started in 2010; the special issue of Current Opinion in Pharmacology regarding anti-infectives; the EPASG Educational Workshop at ECCMID in London and the two ESCMID Technical Workshops in Madrid and in Athens.

Save the date in your 2012 calendar, the 22nd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases will take place in the 2012 Olympic City - London - 31 March to 3 April 2012.

The December CMI editor's choice regards the recovery of the complete genome sequence of Yersinia pestis in skeletons buried during the 1348 epidemics in London. The research results close a period of confusion about medieval plague.

Read the article

Over 3300 abstracts were submitted to ECCMID 2012!
All selected abstract submitters will be part of the renowned CM/ID European congress taking place in London from 31st March to 3rd April 2012. Thousands of people attend the biggest ESCMID annual event.

The November CMI issue features an interesting article on the efforts on improving tuberculosis (TB) care and control as there were 9.4 million new cases in 2009 according to WHO. Multidrugresistant strains are considered a big threat. On the other hand in vitro data shows carbapenems as promising agents for the treatment of resistant TB. Find out about limitations, risks, costs and the need for development
of carbapenem-related compounds.

ESGCIP is a newly founded Study Group focusing on infections in the critically-ill patient, admitted in the ICU or other specific hospital units but also in the hospital wards. In most European countries ICU and medical wards provide an opportunity for information exchange regarding for critically ill patients presenting with challenging infectious puzzles. Sharing of knowledge is very important as the critically ill patient is a concern of multiple medical specialties.
Read more about the study group’s activities -  early diagnosis and guidance of antimicrobial treatment in the critically ill patient as well as strengthening of epidemiological networking.

BSAC - The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy - has launched the initiative Antibiotic Action aimed at securing the future of antibiotic development.
A petition of over 4500 UK and international signatures was brought to the attention of the UK Parliament and delivered to Downing Street on 09 November in order to achieve results which can make a difference in fighting antibiotic resitance. Visit the BSAC antibiotic resistance website.

Nominate a brilliant professional among your colleagues for the Excellence Award or the Young Investigator
Awards at ESCMID. Trainees in CM and/or ID may
apply for a TAE Excellence Training Award.
Research grants of up to EUR 20'000 are also available for the best projects.
The application deadline for most awards & grants in 2012 is 10 November 2011.

The Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics APUA president, Stuart B. Levy has personally awarded ESCMID
and its president, Prof. Giuseppe Cornaglia, the 2011 Apua Leadership Award for providing outstanding leadership in the promotion of antibiotic resistance through the establishment of expert Study Groups, new partnerships, scientific projects and surveillance programmes.
Read the article and download the ESCMID press release on APUA Award 2011.

Specialists interested in ID diagnosis should not miss this! There is still time to sign up for this unique conference with leading experts in the field on 24 - 26 October 2011 in Venice, Italy.

Help the Society select its leadership and nominate candidates for the Executive Committee election this autumn. Four positions will be filled: one for a clinical microbiologist and three for infectious disease specialists. Nominations can be made until 31 August by clicking on the link displayed on the right side of all ESCMID webpages.

A. baumannii infections continue to be the most prevalent of the Acinetobacter species causing nosocomial infections. We desperately need new approaches, including new antibacterial agents, to control A. baumannii infections. Read more in the open-access editorial.

Nominate colleagues for the Excellence Award or the Young Investigator Awards. Or apply for a research grant of up to EUR 20'000. If you are a trainee in CM and/or ID, you can apply for a TAE Excellence Training Award.

The application deadline for most awards & grants in 2012 is 10 November 2011.

Study Group activities will be overseen and stimulated by Scientific Affairs Subcommittee members with individual responsibility for a Section or Theme. In this way, ESCMID's scientific activity is devolved to a larger group of experts and members of the society, and lead hopefully to an expansion of activivites in areas that have previously been less strong.

This brief survey should only take a few minutes of your time, and aims to establish how many of the above have been vaccinated against influenza and their attitudes towards vaccination. Frontline clinicians have been concerned about the variable and often poor uptake of influenza vaccine amongst healthcare workers, some of whom died during the 2009 pandemic. The reasons why healthcare workers choose to be vaccinated or not, are poorly studied, and the current survey aims to elucidate this further.

Those working in countries in the southern hemisphere
Those working in countries in the northern hemisphere

The following presentations have been selected by the ECCMID/ICC Programme Director for fast publication as webcasts.
-What is new in EUCAST expert rules?
-EW01: Antimicrobial susceptibility testing
-Antifungal stewardship for Candida   
-EW02: Fungi in the respiratory tract & antifungal stewardship
-Hand hygiene: what you should know   
-EW06: Hand hygiene to control HAI: what you still don’t know
-Malaria: rapid testing, Giemsa staining and molecular diagnostics    
-EW09: Emerging diagnostic methods in parasitology
-Rapid detection of resistance in blood cultures
-EW10: Rapid detection of resistance

Europeans Largest Conference on Infectious Disease and Microbiology (7-10 May 2011, Milan, Italy)

ESCMID/The Lancet ID press release NDM-1

Representatives of the societies affiliated with ESCMID make up the Council. The next meeting is at 21st ECCMID/27th ICC 2011 in Milan, on Sunday, 8 May 2011 from 12.45 - 14.15 h.

ESCMID welcomes the focus on drug resistance for this year’s World Health Day as it is an issue that the Society has been proactively working on for the past 25 years.

The aim of SAVE LIVES overall is bringing people together to improve and sustain hand hygiene, every 5th of May. For 2011, the specific call is “Where do YOU stand on hand hygiene?” and the aims include:
• Moving from commitment to sustain action on hand hygiene improvement - by 5 May this year the objective is to have all registered health-care facilities, and others, use the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework
• To continue to increase registrations in those health care facilities who have not already committed their support for this global annual campaign.

For more information, see the WHO website.

This one-of-a-kind event in Europe brings together leading experts and key organisations to discuss this multi-faceted and complex issue. ESCMID is pleased to announce that Zsuzsanna Jakab (WHO) and Marc Sprenger (ECDC) will open the Conference. Register now to be part of this exciting and informative meeting in Prague from 1-3 April 2011.

The latest edition published on 4 March 2011 is now available. It looks at the most recent analyses concerning the influenza virus, weighs up the burden of the disease, and reinforces previous evidence-based guidance relating to prevention.

The Conference will take place from 17 - 18 November 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. ESCMID is hosting this event in collaboration with the ESCMID Study Group for Infections in Compromised Hosts (ESGICH) and the International Immunocompromised Host Society. Attendance grants are available for young attendees.

Plan to join us in Treviso, Italy, from 2 - 9 July 2011. We have an exciting interactive programme lined up covering diverse topics in CM/ID as well as career advice. Especially tailored to young MDs and scientists!

The 2nd European Congress on Microbial Biofilms – Basic and Clinical Aspects will take place from 6 - 8 July 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark. ESCMID will provide a number of attendance grants for young participants.

Read the editorial on H1N1 influenza virus in CMI by Giuseppe Cornaglia (ESCMID President) and Didier Raoult (CMI Editor-in-Chief).

Clinical Microbiology and Infection: Read about improvements and upcoming changes.

The renewed Study Group is open to all individuals who are interested in human pathogenic anaerobic bacteria including diagnostic problems, pathogenesis, antibiotic resistance, typing and involvement in rare or more common infections. Microbiologists working in the field of diagnostics of oral infections are also welcome to join us and participate.

The Study Groups have now formed and are setting up various activities. To find out more or get involved, please visit their dedicated webpages.

ESGCP's annual fall newsletter includes recommendations from the ECCMID/ICC 2011 programme. To find out about the group's activities, see their newsletter.

Since 2009 EUCAST is developing a disk diffusion test for routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing. ESCMID has decided to take responsibility for the development and upkeep of the EUCAST disk diffusion test over the forthcoming years.

EUCAST also just published a FAQ online, so you can more quickly find answers to commonly asked questions.

This newly formed ESCMID Study Group had its constitutional meeting at the 20th ECCMID in April 2010. To find out about their activities, see the Group's newsletter.

Interested in learning how another lab does a specific test or how clinical practice in ID works in a different country? These are just examples of why 41 persons have done Observerships in 2010. There is still funding left for another 20 Observership visits this year.

For the first time and for all colleagues in training, ESCMID will hold the European Trainees Day on Saturday, 7 May, a day of teaching dedicated to the unique needs of trainees. This event is held on the first day of ECCMID.

Projects: genotypes of resistant thermophilic campylobacters, CMV & Epstein-Barr virus in breast cancer, clinical trial on antibiotic resistance to Gram-negatives. View these postings or enter your own request for partnership on our search platform free of charge.

The new Commission had its first meeting on 5 September discussing representation of gender, countries and minorities in CM & ID and generating an action plan. The main short-term goals of the EPC are to assess the current situation through a questionnaire and to improve balance within the Society and in its activities.

Institutions involved in a European multi-centre clinical trial (FP7) are seeking other partners. You can read this posting or enter your own request for partnership on our search platform free-of-charge.

These awards are intended to recognise and reward outstanding trainees in CM and ID. The application deadline is 10 November 2010.

“These latest reports on the rapid spread of drug-resistant bacteria reinforce the nature and size of the problem that we face,” says Professor Giuseppe Cornaglia, ESCMID President.

This expert proposal for a standardized international terminology from the ECDC is open for a 30-day period (23 July - 21 August) for public comment.
download report
link to ECDC for more information

61 young MDs and scientists improved their knowledge on diverse topics at the highly interactive ESCMID Summer School in Cappadocia, Turkey, from 3 to 9 July 2010. Some pictures and all presentations are now online. Audio webcasts are also now available.

Helmut Mittermayer, Professor and Head of the Institute for Hygiene, Microbiology and Tropical Medicine at the Elisabethinen Hospital in Linz, Austria, unexpectedly passed away on 6 July 2010. His contributions to the Society were many and included founding ESCMID News, the first printed member newsletter and serving as the first Editor-in-Chief. We are not only losing a highly respected friend and colleague, but also one of the pillars of our organization.

At the Assembly held during the ECCMID, the officers presented last year’s successful achievements. Find the minutes on our website in the member-only area.

The EFSA has launched a call (1) to renew the membership of the ANS and CEF Panels and (2) to expand the reserve list of its Scientific Committee and its other 8 Scientific Panels. Scientists are invited to respond to the call, which closes on 15 September 2010.