ASM posts an alert message.

The 9th edition is posted online on the WHO site.

A new edition has been published.

This is a reminder that the deadline to submit your application to the ASM Professorships for Africa, Asia and Latin America is April 15th.

We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to share your knowledge with young scientists around the world. Due to the limited number of Professorships available these grants are highly prestigious. Winners will receive a certificate and will be profiled in the ASM magazine, Microbe, and on the ASM website. Please find information on the application process attached below:

Deadline: April 15th, 2008

The ASM International Professorships for Asia, Africa and Latin America

These programs provide funding support to an ASM member from the US who is scientifically recognized in his/her area to teach a hands-on, highly interactive short course on a single topic in the microbiological sciences at an institution of higher learning in Africa, Asia or Latin America. 

Funding

The International Professorship Program provides funding to meet the costs of a visit to one institution. Up to $2,600 (Professorships in Latin America) or $3,500 (Professorships in Africa or Asia) of the funding may be used to defray travel expenses for the professor (and co-professor if required). Up to $2,000 may be used for supplies and equipment that are not available at the host institution, or a local assistant, if required. An allowance of up to $300 per visit may be used by a Teaching Professor to defray expenses incurred in local administrative costs or for other contingencies. Funds from ASM must be matched by the hosting institution. Matching funds provided by the host institution may be in-kind contributions such as housing and board for the visiting professor, supplies, facilities, administrative support, etc. 

ASM International Professorship for Asia ONLY:
Each award provides up to $5,500. 

ASM International Professorship for Africa ONLY:
Each award provides up to $5,500. 

ASM International Professorship for Latin America and PAHO Professorship for Latin America ONLY:
Each award provides up to $4,000. 

Eligibility

The application must be made jointly between a hosting institution and the visiting professor. 

Host Institution

    * Institution with graduate students enrolled in a masters, doctoral or equivalent program, post-doctoral fellows or residents, and teaching faculty.
    * Institution where at least 12 students will be enrolled full-time in the short course.
    * Commitment to maximizing use of the course, as demonstrated by the applicability of the course’s contents to existing programs at the institution or to the field of research of the Research Professor.
    * Demonstrated commitment to international collaborations and partnerships.
    * Demonstrated commitment to advancing the microbiological sciences through interactions with professional organizations.
    * Institutions in developed nations, as defined by BOTH the UN high HDI group and the World Bank high income economy group, are ineligible.

Visiting Teaching Professor

    * Scientifically recognized their area of microbiological expertise.
    * Actively engaged in teaching at the post-secondary level.
    * Commitment to international collaborations and partnerships.
    * Must be an ASM member during the term of the Professorship. All selected applicants will receive a one-year membership as part of their award. Current ASM members will be reimbursed their membership fees for the applicable year.

Preference will be given to:

    * Applicants who will be able to make maximal use of the course, as demonstrated by the applicability of the course’s contents to existing programs at the host institution.
    * Applications that demonstrate a commitment to building an ongoing institutional relationship.

Application Form

Visit ASM’s International Affairs section on the web to download the professorship application: http://www.asm.org/International/professorship

It is a recommended that all applications be received in advance of the deadline to allow to for confirmation that all required documents have been received. 

Application Process

The application, consisting of the Visiting Professor Information, the Host Information, the Hosting Institution, Visiting Professor Agreement, and all attachments should be e-mailed or faxed to the ASM Department of International Affairs at international@asmusa.org or (202) 942 9328 on or before the appropriate deadline. The original signed agreement form should be mailed to: 

InternationalASM InternationalAmerican Society for Microbiology
1752 N Street N.W.
Washington , DC, 20036-2804 Professorship Program
Affairs

ASM is pleased to offer this exciting opportunity to our members, if you have any questions please contact international@asmusa.org.  Good luck!

Best Regards,

Bereneice M. Madison
Chair, International Education Committee (IEC)

__________________

Dear meeting participant, 
As you may well know, Kenya has in the past few weeks faced adverse media publicity arising from the unfortunate post-election chaos. As a result a number of potential participants to our meeting have been inquiring concerning the current situation and meeting plans for May 2008.

New information posted on ASM's web site this week

MicrobeLibrary is pleased to offer freely recently published Curriculum Collection activities and a Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education (JMBE) article.  

The Francis J. Curry National Tuberculosis Center is pleased to announce the introduction of a new product: "Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis: An Online Presentation” with Dr. Gisela Schecter, which is now available online. The topics covered in this 60-minute online slide and audio presentation.

The focus of the conference will be on antimicrobial resistance and transmission of antimicrobial resistant bacteria via the food chain and other human-animals interactions. The meeting will provide numerous opportunities to interact and exchange knowledge, in this growing research area, between scientists as well as international policy and regulatory decision makers.

ASM-International Laboratory Capacity Building (Lab Cap) and other new information posted.

Help spread the word by taking a moment to post a graphical button
http://www.cdc.gov/other/WADbuttons.html  in English and Spanish on your Web site to links visitors to http://www.hivtest.org/  beginning Thursday, November 29 through Monday, December 3, 2007.

The Francis J. Curry National Tuberculosis Center is pleased to announce a 90 minute web-based seminar which will be an introductory training on the Practical Applications of Genotyping in TB Control. The seminar will be broadcast live, via the internet on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. The topics covered will include:
National genotyping program overview
Universal genotyping
How to interpret genotyping data
False-positive lab results
This training is intended for TB program managers, program epidemiologists, and other healthcare professionals who work with TB genotyping data. This training opportunity is available to a National audience.

In partnership with the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), kaisernetwork.org is pleased to be the official              webcaster of the 38th Union World Conference on Lung Health (November 8 - 12), providing you with access to the daily developments that take place at the conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

ProMED-mail posts an update.

A superbug which kills hundreds of patients a
year has been found on 32 farms, it emerged
yesterday [4 Nov 2007]. The discovery raises
fears that the infection is spreading to the
human population through meat and milk.

 joint investigation between the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
and the USA Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS) has identified a likely source of the multistate outbreak of
_Escherichia coli_ O157:H7 infections linked to the Topps Meat Company.

The number of people hit by food poisoning in Jordan after eating hummus
(ground chickpeas) from a restaurant in Jerash south of the capital, rose
Sat 27 Oct 2007, to nearly 300, the health minister said. Salah al-Mawajdeh
told state-run Petra news agency that more than 90 people suffering from
diarrhea and fever have been taken to Jerash and Amman hospitals. He said
the health authorities have shut down the restaurant and are currently
investigating the possibility of an outbreak of salmonella or cholera.
"They are in stable health condition now and might be discharged in the
coming few hours," the minister said. Earlier, the head of the Jerash
public hospital Yousef Qoqaji told AFP that 206 people had been treated for
food poisoning and that salmonella was probably the cause.

Abstract submission deadline: January 1, 2008
May 25-28, 2008 Kilifi, Kenya
Organized by  Dr Sam Kariuki
Centre for Microbiology Research
Kenya Medical Research Institute
Nairobi, Kenya
meeting2008@kemri.org.

Genetics and Mechanisms of Susceptibility to Infectious Diseases, Nov 21 - 24, 2007 - Institut Pasteur, Paris France, http://www.pasteur.fr/infosci/conf/sb/host_genetics/
4th International Eijkman Conference, Infectious Disease and Human Migration, Nov  14 - 18, 2007, Mercure Resort Sanur, Bali, Indonesia, http://www.ewi.med.uu.nl/EijkmanSymposium/

ASM posts biosafety update.

&B Meats Corp. recalled 173 554 pounds (86.8 tons) of ground beef
that may be contaminated with the potentially deadly _E. coli_
[O157:H7] bacteria, the 5th such recall by an American company in the
past 3 weeks

Although schistosomiasis is a widespread infection in the tropics,
travellers are almost exclusively infected in sub-Saharan Africa, through
exposure to freshwater infested with cercariae of either _Schistosoma
mansoni_ (intestinal schistosomiasis) or _Schistosoma haematobium_ (urinary
schistosomiasis) [1]. Primary infection may cause a febrile
hypersensitivity reaction occurring 3 to 12 weeks post-exposure, with
fever, cough and/or abdominal pain when schistosomules mature to
egg-producing adult worms, the so called "Katayama fever".
Hypereosinophilia is its early diagnostic hallmark. Definite diagnosis
requires antischistosomal antibody detection and/or demonstrating
schistosomal eggs in stools, urine, or rectal mucosa to be found on microscopy.

ProMED post an update.

PromED posts an update.

CDC is collaborating with public health officials in multiple states across
the USA and with the Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection
Service to investigate an ongoing multistate outbreak of _Salmonella_
I,4,[5],12:i:- infections in humans. An investigation that used interviews
comparing foods eaten by ill and well persons is showing that eating
Banquet brand pot pies produced by the ConAgra Foods company is the likely
source of the illness.

Two outbreaks reported in the US.

The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection
Service (FSIS) is investigating a Missouri establishment that on Tue 9 Oct
2007 voluntarily ceased operations due to reported illnesses linked to
their products.

ProMED posts a new update.

A very interesting web site on Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) is
www.Enteroaggregative.org

According to the ITAR-TASS report, schoolchildren in Noviy Urengoy
[in the Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous district of western Siberia -
Mod.LL] have become infected with pseudotuberculosis [_Yersinia
pseudotuberculosis_ - Mod.LL]. Galina Cenevoy, from the Institute of
Epidemiology and Microbiology in Saint Petersburg commented regarding
the laboratory confirmation of the diagnosis and the quick
recognition of infection by local physicians

A meat company issued a nationwide recall yesterday, 29 Sep 2007, for
21.7 million pounds (9843 tons) of ground beef products after reports
of up to 25 cases of illness caused by suspected _E. coli_ [O157:H7]
in 8 states, including New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, federal
officials reported.

Bioinformatics position in Lisbon, Portugal.

A table outlining founders and foundations of medical and veterinary virology, developed by Frederick A. Murphy, has been published online. 

The CDC (US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention) said Wed 26 Sep
2007 that 21 people in 8 states may have fallen ill after eating
hamburgers possibly contaminated with _E. coli_ [O157] bacteria. CDC
spokeswoman Lola Russell said 3 cases, 2 in New York and one in
Florida, are confirmed as being linked to the ground beef, with the
other 18 cases possibly linked and under investigation. No one has
died, but Russell said she had no additional information on the cases.

New Jersey-based meat processor, Topps Meat Company LLC, is
voluntarily recalling 331 582 pounds (150 metric tons) of frozen
ground beef products that may be contaminated with the potentially
deadly _E. coli_ [O157:H7] bacterium, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) said on Tue 25 Sep 2007. A product sample tested
positive for _E. coli_ during an investigation into a cluster of
illnesses in the northeast region of the USA, the USDA said in a statement.

ProMED post an update.

ProMED post an update.

5 samples have been tested positive for _Salmonella [enterica_ serovar]
paratyphi B during the scheduled examination among the workers of the
confectionary factory. All of them have been referred to the infectious
diseases hospital for further follow up. After the detailed clinical and
laboratory examination, paratyphoid B has been confirmed in 2 cases and
carriage in 3 cases.

ProMED posts the current update.

ProMED post an update.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has recently been
made aware of several complaints from pet owners and veterinarians
that multiple brands of jerky treats manufactured in China have been
making pets sick. Signs of illness have included vomiting, diarrhea,
and lethargy. To our knowledge, no deaths have been reported.