The Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
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The IACMAC Chronicle


In the year of 2001, Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (IACMAC), founded and registered in June of 1997, has celebrated its fourth anniversary. The members of IACMAC are medical professionals of different specialties: clinical pharmacologists, microbiologists, general practitioners, surgeons, obstetricians, gynaecologists, etc.

Nowadays IACMAC consolidates 27 regional branches with total of 1000 members.

IACMAC Council Meeting

According to the Regulations īf the Association, IACMAC council meeting was held on June 18, 2001. The agenda of the meeting included reports of the Executive Committee of the Association and the report of financial inspection commission for 4 year period as long as the election of the President īf the Association and members of the Executive Committee. The plan of IACMAC activities for the next 4 years was developed also.

Delegates of the regional branches and board members of IACMAC took part in the work of the Council Meeting. Leonid S. Stratchounski, the President of IACMAC has reported the work of the Executive Committee. The main statements of the report are presented below.

IACMAC Educational Activities

During 4 years, 31 conferences and 10 seminars in 15 regions of Russia were organized and held under the auspices of IACMAC, including:

  • Seminar «Antimicrobial Chemotherapy», Kazan (1997);
  • Seminar «Diagnostics and Antibacterial Therapy of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections», St. Petersburg (1997);
  • Conference «Clinical Microbiology: Role In The Therapy, Diagnosis And Epidemiology», Novosibirsk (1997);
  • Seminar «Diagnostics and Antibacterial Therapy of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections in Pediatric Practice»v, Moscow (1998);
  • Seminar «Antibiotics in outpatient practice», St. Petersburg (1998);
  • Conference «Up-to-date Questions Associated With Infection In Internal Medicine and in Surgical Practice», Krasnoyarsk (1998);
  • Research and practical seminar «Antibiotics in out-patient practice», St. Petersburg (1998);
  • Conference denoted to the 100-anniversary of microbiology, virology, and immunology departments of the St. Petersburg State Medical University, St. Petersburg (1998);
  • Conference «Modern approaches to Antibacterial Therapy of Urinary Tract Infections», Rostov-on-Don (1998);
  • Symposium «Urinary Tract Infections in out-patient practice», Moscow (1999);
  • Conference «Modern foundations of Antibacterial Therapy», Vladivostok (1999);
  • International Conference «Antimicrobial Chemotherapy», Tashkent (1999);
  • Conference «Modern foundations of Antimicrobial Therapy in Obstetrics and Gynaecology», Krasnodar (2000);
  • Conference «Antibacterial Therapy at the Dawn of New Millennium», Volgograd (2000);
  • Conference «Antibiotic therapy in Otolaryngology», Krasnodar (2000);
  • International seminar «The questions of isolation, identification, and susceptibility testing of S.pyogenes», Smolensk (2001);
  • International seminar «Modern approaches to identification of the most frequent resistance mechanisms», Moscow (2001).

In 2000-2001, in the framework of the Russian National Congress «Human and Medicine» were conducted the Vth and VIth training courses on antimicrobial therapy, which involved over 300 participants from different regions of Russia.

A large number of IACMAC members form several regional branches took part in the work of the II European Congress on Chemotherapy (ECC) in Hamburg (1998) and in the IX European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Berlin (1999).

Research Activities

The following microbiological projects run under IACMAC organizational and methodical support were conducted or are at the stage of completion:

  • ARGON - surveillance study of antimicrobial resistance of N.gonorrhoeae
  • ARMID - surveillance study of predominant urinary tract infection pathogens in children
  • CRoChA - surveillance study of the nasopharyngeal carriage of S.pneumoniae and H.influenzae in healthy children attending day care institutions and susceptibility testing of isolated microorganisms
  • EQA - WHO/CDC/IACMAC external quality assurance program
  • NPRS - Nosocomial Gram-negative pathogens Prevalence and Resistance Survey in intensive care units (ICUs)
  • PeGAS - antibiotic resistance surveillance of the main pathogens causing upper respiratory tract infections (S.pneumoniae, H.influenzae, S.pyogenes)
  • StEnt - study of antibiotic resistance in gram-positive bacteria: S.aureus and Enterococcus spp., multicenter investigation of the preventive-treatment state in abdominal surgery
  • UTIAP-1, 2 - antimicrobial susceptibility study of the outpatient uncomplicated acute urinary tract infection pathogens

The total quantity of isolates investigated in 4 years is approximate to 20 000. The reliable information on the antibiotic resistance state in respiratory and urinary tract infection pathogens in children and adults and in nosocomial infections pathogens was obtained due to realization of the above mentioned projects, and the results had a certain positive impact on optimization of the policy of antimicrobial drug use in Russia.

In 1997-1998, IACMAC/WHO with the assistance of 19 laboratories from 12 Russian cities, have performed the Surveillance Quality Control Program. The Epidemiological Surveillance Program of antibiotic resistance in nosocomial infections pathogens was carried out in 1999-2000 with the assistance of 53 laboratories from 30 Russian cities (INSPEAR).

Publications

There are 105 articles published in 21 Russian and foreign journals and other scientific papers. Following methodical papers and informational letters appeared under the auspices of IACMAC:

  • «The State of Antimicrobial Resistance in Nosocomial Gram-Negative Pathogens in Intensive Care Units»;
  • «Antibiotic susceptibility in N.gonorrhoeae and the Selection Of Appropriate Antimicrobial for Infection due to N.gonorrhoeae»;
  • «Determination of resistance to meticillin and other b-lactams by with the screening method»;
  • «Isolation, identification, and determination of antibacterial resistance in S.pneumoniae»;
  • «Isolation, identification, and determination of antibacterial resistance in H.influenzae»;
  • «Antimicrobial susceptibility in strains of Shigella and Salmonella, isolated in Ekaterinburg»;
  • «Phenotype identification of enteral pathogens causing infections».

Journal «Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy»

The first issue of IACMAC quarterly recurrent journal «Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy» (CMAC) was published in 1999. Editorial stuff, editorial board, and international editorial council embody the leading Russian and foreign scientists.

Entering the redaction, all the articles are reviewed anonymously by two independent medical professionals and by statistician, as well. In average, there are 31% of denied articles. 6 volumes of the journal appeared (excluding N 3, 2001), containing 71 articles: 71% - native authors, 29% - foreign authors.

Subscription to the journal is available in any postal office. Free full text version of all issues are placed on the IACMAC official web site.

An Official Web Site of IACMAC

The informational resource - an official IACMAC website «Antibiotics and antimicrobial therapy» (www.antibiotic.ru) - was created in 1999, in co-operation with the Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy of the Smolensk State Medical Academy. This website represents such links as «Antimicrobial Agents», «Resistance», «Conferences», «Library», «Questions and Answers», etc. News are renewed daily. The quantity of daily calls to the website, according to the inner statistics (charts), is 11 to 12 thousand. Since the creation of the website it was visited by 3 355 165 people.

IACMAC International Conferences

In June 1998, the I IACMAC International Conference «Nosocomial Infections in the intensive care units» attended by 425 participants was held in Moscow. The II International Conference «Antimicrobial Therapy in Pediatric Practice» with the audience of 480 representatives was held in May 1999, and the III International Conference «Antibiotics and Drug Resistance at the Dawn of New Millennium» was held in June 2000 with the audience of 520 participants.

IACMAC International Conferences are held annually.

Discussion

The president of the financial inspection commission Olga Galeeva, has made a report on the IACMAC financial activities. The main IACMAC expense item came from the support of the regional departments' activities, publication of methodic references, organizing seminars, conferences, and symposia under the auspices of IACMAC.

Questions associated with the support of regional branches, preparing research and methodical papers on the work with medium, creating a diagnostic center on microbiology, and communication with the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation in order to establish the post of the chief clinical microbiologist were raised during the discussion.

During the review spoke Ģikhail Zubkov, Olga Galeeva, Vladimir Tez and other delegates. Sergei Skalski suggested to strengthen the IACMAC co-operation with other associations of microbiologists and clinicians, especially with the «Alliance of Clinical Chemotherapeutists and Microbiologists». This suggestion has got the entirely support of Leonid. S. Stratchounski and other board members.

Election results

For the election to the IACMAC Executive Committee, 12 candidatures were nominated, and only 9 had to be selected. According to the results of a secret vote, Leonid S. Stratchounski, the principal of the Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy was re-elected the President of IACMAC. Mikhail Zubkov, Deputy Chief Medical in the City Hospital N 23 (Moscow) and Alexey Firsov, Head of the Research Institute laboratory on investigation of new antibiotics (Moscow) have become Vice-presidents of IACMAC.

Īlga Kretchikova, Head of the microbiological laboratory, State Center on Epidemiology Control was elected the Honorary Treasurer of the Association, Dmitry Galkin, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, has become the Administrative Secretary.

Vladimir Rudnov, Department of anaesthesiology and intensive care, Ural State medical academy (Ekaterinburg), Sergey Sidorenko, Head of the Laboratory SSC on antibiotics, Alexander Sinopalnikov, State Institute of Postgraduate Education, The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, editor-in-chief of the journal «Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy» (Moscow), Igor Smolenov, Department of Clinical Pharmacology (Volgograd) entered the IACMAC Executive Committee.

IV IACMAC International Conference

IV IACMAC Conference was held in Moscow on June 20-21, 2001. It was organized under the official recognition of The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Institute of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy with the support of American Society on Microbiology (ASM), European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID), Federation of Europian Societies on Clinical Infections (FESCI), International Society on Infectious Diseases (ISID), and Paul Erlich Society (PEG).

More then 850 participants from 75 Russian cities and countries of the former NIS such as Armenia, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Estonia attended the conference. The audience was represented by clinicists (81%), clinical microbiologists (15%) and epidemiologists (4%).

203 abstracts were submitted to the Scientific Committee (Chairman - Alexander Sinopalnikov), among them 89 (44%) were accepted to the publication in abstract book of the Conference.

During the 2 days of the conference, 19 foreign and 15 Russian speakers presented 46 lectures on 2 plenary sessions and 9 symposia.

Valentin Pokrovski, the President of RAMS, opened the Conference. In the opening address, he paid special attention to the significance of antibacterial drug resistance in microorganisms. Welcome note to the conference on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID) was presented by Jacques Acar, Stephen Lerner spoke on behalf of American Society on Microbiology (ASM).

The problems of antimicrobial resistance in Europe and Russia, modern approaches to the antibacterial therapy of infectious diseases were discussed on the first day of the plenary session. On that day symposia «Modern tendencies in the therapy of mycoses», «Policy of the Selection of Antibacterial agents in ICU», «New possibilities of therapy of serious bacterial infections» were held. Within the remit of the European Commission symposium «Surveillance of diphtheria in Erurope and Russian Federation». was held

The issue of bioterrorizm, preventive measures, associated with antibiotic use in therapy, clinical significance of antibiotic influence on immunity, the causes of their inefficiency were discussed on the second day of the plenary session. Such symposia as «Perspectives of anti-infective therapy in the new millenium», «Position of Parenteral Cephalosporins in the Therapy on Nosocomial infections», «Perspectives of usage of new fluoroquinolones», «Molecular Epidemiology and Diagnostics of Bacterial Infections» also took place.

The symposium «Federal guidelines of physicians as a tool for optimization of antimicrobial therapy» was held under the auspices of All-Russian Public Foundation «Human Health» and PEG.

Symposia were dedicated to the modern tendencies in therapy of mycosis, serious bacterial infections, prospects of anti-infectious therapy in the New Millennium, policy of selection of appropriate antibacterial agent. A great number of data, reflected in the reports, were original and often had not been published in the medical journals.

For the first time on the threshold of the Conference the International seminar «Modern techniques of detection of common resistance mechanisms» was held.

IACMAC expresses gratitude for the organizing and holding the seminar to Alexey Egorov, Head of the State Scientific Center on Antibiotics, and his colleagues, to Stephen Lerner, Chairman of American Society on Microbiology (ASM).

The leading microbiologists from ASM - Susan Sharp, Michael Saubīlle and Stephen Lerner delivered lectures and carried the practical part of the seminar. In the work of the Conference took part 54 microbiologists from laboratories from many Russian cities and countries of the former NIS. Lectures preceding the seminar were attended by 86 participants.

The possibility of holding such seminars on the regular basis is discussed by the IACMAC and ASM governing boards.

On 18 June 2001, in the framework of the Conference took place round-table discussion «Respiratory fluoroquinolones», dedicated to the prospects of use of new agents of this antimicrobial group. Andre Bryskier (France) and Alexander Chuchalin (Russia) made their reports.

Experience gained for 4 years, made it clear that the subject matter of such conferences must be multifaceted to the maximum.

V IACMAC International Conference

The V anniversary IACMAC Conference was held on 4-6 June 2002 in Moscow, in the Russian Academy of State Services under the President of Russia. As in previous years, the Conference was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The conference for the first time was supported by British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) and by Spanish Society on Chemotherapy (SSC).

The V IACMAC conference attracted over 1,500 participants from 76 regions and 130 cities of Russian Federation and countries of the former Soviet Union, among them physicians (77%), microbiologists (14%), clinical pharmacologists (8.5%), and epidemiologists (0.5%).

For the publication over 332 abstracts were submitted and 26.5% of them were selected.

During the days of the conference, June 5th through June 6th, 36 lectures were presented on three plenary sessions and six symposia. In total, 19 foreign lecturers presented 22 lectures and Russian speakers 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.

The attention should be paid to the workshop for microbiologists, preceded the conference on June 4th, «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.

On the day of the opening ceremony of the conference, 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?» made an exceptional onset for the conference. The Russian folklore ensemble of Dmitry Pokrovsky performed at the conclusion of the opening ceremony.

Colloquium «Antibiotics Without Ties»

Within the program of the tour on June 9-10th to Saint Petersburg and to the most beautiful islands of Russian North - Valaam and Kizhi, situated at the Ladoga and Onega lakes, the colloquium «Antibiotics without Ties» was held. 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. The 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). All tour participants pointed to the great opportunity to get into professional contacts with the foreign specialists and to review current problems of chemotherapy in the informal atmosphere. Besides many foreign guests have never seen the countryside of Russia and this rare chance was very positively evaluated.


In May, 29-30, 2003 in Moscow, Russia the first International IACMAC/ISC Conference «Surgical infections: prevention and management» was held. The conference was performed within the framework of international project «Disease Management Series» proposed by ISC and was organized in Russia by IACMAC jointly with ISC. The conference was also supported by the Ministry Health of Russian Federation, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, and All-Russian Scientific Medical Surgeons Society. Broad support to the meeting was granted by the pharmaceutical industry: MSD, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca, Lek, Dr.Reddy's, Aventis, Bayer, Bristol-Mayers Squibb, bioMérieux, KRKA, Ranbaxy, Abolmed, and Nizhpharm.

Over 1450 specialists from 170 Russian cities and various former Soviet Union countries - Byelorussia, Moldavia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Uzbekistan, and also Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, Poland, Serbia, and Korea took part in the scientific sessions. More than 240 (30%) participants from 30 medical institutions of Moscow and Moscow region attended the Conference. Clinicians (95%), microbiologists (3%), and epidemiologists (2%) made up the main audience.

Overall, during the two days of the conference 27 lectures were given, 15 of them were presented by foreign speakers and 12 - by the Russian specialists. All scientific sessions were provided with simultaneous translation.

In comparison to the previous years, the Scientific Committee received the largest number of abstracts - 409. To the publication 87 abstracts were accepted, and 20 authors took part in the poster session. Authors of the best posters were awarded with free 1-year subscription to the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, membership in European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and free 1-year subscription to the journal Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

During the opening ceremony the President of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Academician V.I. Pokrovski and the Head of the Department of Scientific & Research Institutions of the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation, S.B. Tkachenko addressed their welcome remarks to the participants of the conference. The guests had a unique opportunity to see the unforgettable performance presented by the Laureate of International and All-Russian Competitions, Scholarship winner of V. Spivakov's Fund, Ilya Petrov.

Great attention was devoted to pathogens causing surgical infections, prophylaxis of the infectious complications and management of patients with severe peritonitis, pancreatitis, and nosocomial pneumonia. There were held two symposia «Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)», where lectures were presented by the Head Infectious Diseases Specialist of the Ministry of Health of Russia Academician V.V. Maleev, the President of ISC, Professor J.C. Pechere and Professor of the National Singapore University P.A. Tambyah and symposium «The Role of Levofloxacin in the Treatment of Surgical Infections» kindly organized by the pharmaceutical company Aventis. Scientific trends of the second day were focused on antibacterial prophylaxis of surgical infections, treatment of patients with severe surgical infections and injuries, burns and frostbites, and also UTIs. Special attention was paid to the infections caused by resistant pathogens. Separate symposium was devoted to new anti-infective drugs for the management of surgical infections.

An important event of 30 May was the round-table discussion on the international recommendations «Antibiotic Policy in Surgery. 2003». The IACMAC initiative was supported by a board of international authors. Valuable comments to the document were offered during discussion by participants, Russian and foreign specialists. All suggestions will be thoroughly considered in the final version of the document.

VII International IACMAC conference

The VII International IACMAC Conference will be held in the summer of 2005 in Moscow, Russia. The Conference will be jointly organized by ESCMID. Main topics of the conference will be announced later on our web-site www.antibiotic.ru.

IACMAC and ESCMID will very much appreciate any of your comments and suggestions on a theme of the upcoming event.

 

Last update: August 09, 2004
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