All sessions will be held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill.

ICAAC is the premier international meeting on infectious diseases organized by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). Presently, over 8,000 scientists are registered, in addition to industry representatives from 150 companies comprising 940 booths -- ASM's largest exhibit ever.

In only two months time, the American Society for Microbiology reconfirmed the complete scientific program, which had to be rescheduled from the original September dates. Furthermore, the ICAAC Program Committee has enhanced the timeliness of the 41st ICAAC with the following new educational activities:

* Meet-the-Experts on Viral Hemorrhagic Fever and Smallpox - Steven Opal, Brown Univ., Pawtucket, RI and Clarence J. Peters, Univ. of Texas, Galveston, TX (December 16 at 12:00 noon)

* Symposium lecture on An Approach to Testing Bacillus anthracis and Other Organisms Not Found in the NCCLS Guidelines - Fred C. Tenover, CDC, Atlanta, GA (December 17 at 3:30 p.m.)

* ASM Special Symposium on Bioterrorism Preparedness: Physician Recognition, Clinical Detection and Public Health Response - Ronald M. Atlas, Univ. of Louisville, KY; Theodore J. Cieslak, USAMRIID, Fort Detrick, MD; Stephen A. Morse, CDC, Altanta, GA; and Scott R. Lillibridge, DHHS, Washington, DC (December 17 at 5:00 p.m.)

* Meet-the-Experts, Bioterrorism I: Clinical and Level A Laboratory Roles - Daniel R. Lucey, Washington Hosp. Ctr., Washington, DC; James W. Snyder, Univ. of Louisville Health Sci. Ctr., Louisville, KY; and Larry K. Pickering, CDC Nat'l Immunization Program, Atlanta, GA (December 18 at 6:45 a.m.)

* Symposium lecture on Viruses as Bioterrorism Agents - Clarence J. Peters (December 18 at 10:30 a.m.)

* Meet-the-Experts, Bioterrorism II: Hospital Infection Control - Robert
Holzman, Bellevue Hosp., New York, NY and Trish M. Perl, Johns Hopkins Hosp., Baltimore, MD (December 19 at 6:45 a.m.)

* 22 up-to-date late-breaker posters, including 4 on anthrax and one on
smallpox.

Webcasts of several of the most timely and important ICAAC invited sessions will be available for viewing over the Internet at this URL in January 2002, including:

* The ICAAC Lecture, Prions: Health Scare and Biological Challenge, being given by Adriano Aguzzi, M.D. of Universitats Spital, Zurich, Switzerland

* The Keynote session, including The HIV Epidemic in Africa, by Hoosen M. Coovadia, M.D. of Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of Natal Medical School, Congella, South Africa

* Bioterrorism Preparedness outlined above

* The Aventis Pharmaceuticals Award Lecture, Antifungal Chemotherapy: from Amphotericin B to the Future, by William E. Dismukes, M.D. of Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham, AL

11-Dec-2001