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Introduction
International Conference on
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Robert V. Tauxe,*
Rima F. Khabbaz,* Daniel N. Cameron,* and Lori Feinman†
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; and
American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C., USA
Suggested
citation for this article
Approximately 2,100 scientists and public health officials from the United
States and 64 other countries gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, February 29
– March 3, 2004, for the fourth biennial International Conference
on Emerging Infectious Diseases. The aims of the conference were to present
the latest scientific information from a variety of disciplines on the
new and emerging microbial threats to public health around the world and
to encourage and enhance the partnerships that are critical to addressing
them. The conference was sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, the American Society for Microbiology, the Association
of Public Health Laboratories, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists,
and the World Health Organization, as well as 38 partner organizations.
The scientific program committee had representatives from 23 agencies
and organizations.
The field of infectious diseases is fast-moving, as new challenges around
the world engage the efforts of physicians, epidemiologists, microbiologists,
veterinarians, and social scientists to understand them well enough to
control and prevent them. Meeting these new challenges, with the best
science and with the most effective policies, was the continuing theme
of this multidisciplinary conference. The conference schedule was built
around 12 plenary speakers and 16 panels of invited talks, along with
115 scientific oral presentations and 345 posters, chosen from 711 submitted
abstracts. Four lunchtime sessions were devoted to discussing practical
aspects of emergency response, such as the extensive experience with quarantine
in the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic. Six breakfast
"meet-the-network" sessions introduced some of the current international
surveillance and response networks. The International Conference on Women
and Infectious Disease and other satellite meetings provided time for
discussion and amplification of the interlocking issues and relationships.
The opening session outlined the central themes of the conference, with
addresses by Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry; David Heymann, representing the director-general
of the World Health Organization; William Sergeant, chairman of Rotary
International's International PolioPlus Committee; and James Hughes, director
of CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. The central themes they
introduced recurred through many of the presentations. New pathogens,
new antimicrobial resistance, and new routes of transmission continue
to emerge as public health challenges. Many emerging pathogens are global,
move swiftly from continent to continent, and cross readily from animal
reservoirs to humans. Mounting an effective public health response depends
on international collaboration across continents, cultures, and disciplines.
Shaping effective mechanisms for control and prevention is the collective
and exciting work of public health in the coming decade.
The conference also featured new information and major advances in understanding
the latest global concerns, such as SARS, West Nile virus, avian influenza,
and increasing antimicrobial resistance problems in many pathogens. The
transformations of the developing world, with new patterns of consumption
and leisure, are creating opportunities for the emergence of pathogens,
at the same time as growing regional and international networks are evolving
to better understand and monitor them. In many places, preparations to
meet the threat of biocrime or bioterror are strengthening the capacity
of public health systems to respond to future natural threats of pandemic
and panzootic disease.
The conveners summarized presentations from each of the invited panels
devoted to specific topics; some of these are published in this issue
of Emerging Infectious Diseases. A tribute given at the conference to
the late Robert Shope, a distinguished arbovirologist, has appeared in
the journal (1). Planning has already begun on the fifth
International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, to be held in
March 2006 in Atlanta.
Acknowledgments
We are deeply grateful
for the commitment and hard work of the scientific and administrative
committees.
Dr. Tauxe is a medical
epidemiologist, chief of the Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch,
National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC. His public health research
focuses on improving surveillance, investigation, control, and prevention
of bacterial enteric infections.
Reference
- Murphy FA, Calisher CH, Tesh RB, Walker DH. Robert
Ellis Shope. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004;10:762–5.
Suggested citation
for this article:
Tauxe RV, Khabbaz RF,
Cameron DN, Feinman L. International Conference on Emerging Infectious
Diseases. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2004 Nov [date
cited]. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no11/04-0857.htm
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