ISHAM News: OBITUARY, MEETINGS, REPORTS, DATABASES, VACANCIES

ISHAM NEWS! (17-12-2013)

Dear , With regret we have to announce the sad news that Reinhard Ruechel has passed away after a long illness. An obituary can be found here.

The Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA, together with the American Society for Microbiology, supports the development of new approaches, methodologies and knowledge in infectious disease prevention and control in areas within the public health mission of the CDC, see here. Application deadline is February 15, 2014.

The next Latin American Forum on Fungal Infections in the Clinical Practice, INFOCUS 2014, will be organized in Curitiba, Brazil, 16-18 October, 2014. Detailed information will be communicated soon.

For online registration to the 6th conference Advances Against Aspergillosis, held in Madrid, Spain, 27 February – 1 March, 2014, see here. Via this website you can also book accommodation and find the programme and other relevant information. We are pleased to offer a Special Conference Registration and Hotel Package which not only gives you a reduction on the stand alone registration fee but also allows you to book into the conference hotel at a reduced rate.

The drug interaction database on The Aspergillus Website hosts interactions between 7 antifungals and 739 other drugs. So far, 398 interactions are rated as minor, 1375 moderate and 443 severe, a total of 2216 recorded interactions. This database is also available as an app for iPhone and Android. It is updated 3-monthly.

An e-course ‘Mechanisms in Fungal Infection’, from the science to the clinical setting, is available here. The course is designed for oncologists, hematologists, and infectious disease specialists who treat patient groups at risk from developing fungal infections.

Are generic antifungals available in your country? GAFFI is displaying the availability of fluconazole, flucytosine, itraconazole and amphotericin D (deoxycholate) and the number of generic brands by country. See here for interactive maps. Thank you to all those who provided data. Many countries are missing (see 'grey' countries on the maps) – if you can help please contact Prof David Denning at ddenning@manchester.ac.uk.

The new LIFE Newsletter has appeared with news on VVC, aspergillosis, isavuconazole and other important items can be found here.

Latest information on the 10th International Mycological Congress (IMC10) in Bangkok, Thailand, 3-8 August, 2014, is available here.

The 5th joint meeting of the ISHAM Working Groups on Black Yeasts and on Chromoblastomycosis was held in Guangzhou, China. A report of the meeting, and numerous presentations can be found here.

A two-year postdoc position is available at the HKI in Jena, Germany, on the subject ‘Pathogenicity mechanisms of Candida albicans and C. glabrata’. Detailed information is available here.

A short report of the 6th Annual workshop on Basics and Diagnostics in Mycology, which was conducted 26-29 October, 2013, in the Department of Microbiology at Porur, Chennai, India, can be found here.

The next meeting of the ISHAM Working Group Chromoblastomycosis is the centennial ‘100 years of Chromoblastomycosis’. The meeting will be held in Sao Luis, Maranhao, Brazil, 8-14 October, 2014. A website will be available soon.

The CBS Spring Symposium 2014 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24-25 April, 2014 is devoted to Genera and Genomes. The meeting will be preceeded by a workshop of the ISHAM Working Group Barcoding in Utrecht, The Netherlands, 22-23 April, 2014; this workshop will have a focus on barcoding and novel techniques in medical mycology. Both events are easily reached by train within an hour if you book your hotel either in Amsterdam or in Utrecht.

The Chinese edition of the CBS Course in Medical Mycology was held in Guangzhou, China, 18-29 November, 2013, with nearly 40 participants. For a short report, see here.

Do you have anything to announce to the active community of workers in all fields of medical mycology, free of charge? Please send a link to your event to de.hoog@cbs.knaw.nl.