The Double Helix

Plans for Project ICARE Phase II Announced

Funding for Phase II of Project ICARE (Intensive Care Antimicrobial Resistance Epidemiology) is substantially in place, and activities have already begun to yield results.

Project ICARE provides grants to individual participating hospitals to update laboratory and pharmacy information systems so that each hospital can provide accurate and timely data on antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use.

According to John E. McGowan, Jr, MD, Professor of Epidemiology and ICARE Project Director, The Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, 48 hospitals of the more than 200 member hospitals participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System (NNIS) will be part of the project's activities designed to collect, analyze, and report patterns of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use in hospital intensive care units and other settings.

"Our target was for hospitals to begin collecting data by mid-January and February 1 at the latest. We began receiving isolates in mid-February, and anticipate receiving first-month summaries from some hospitals by the end of the month," said Dr. McGowan.

Data from Phase I of Project ICARE is still being analyzed. Presentations and abstracts about this information will be presented by Dr. McGowan at the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America (SHEA) national meeting in Washington, DC, this month and at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) in New Orleans in May.

An editorial by Robert P. Gaynes, MD, Chief, National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance Activity, Hospital Infections Program, CDC and ICARE Project Director at CDC, pertinent to Project ICARE appeared in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, in November 1995.

Phase II of Project ICARE is supported by grants from the Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, Rhone-Poulenc-Rorer, Kimberly Clark Corporation, The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and Roche Laboratories.

Calendar of Meetings

May 4-8

Educational Strategies Workshop: Teaching Microbiology and Immunology to Medical Students, in Myrtle Beach, SC. Contact: Dr. Robert S. Fulghum, School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, (919) 816-2700.

May 5-8

UA/UC 7th Biennial International Conference on Infectious Diseases, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. Contact: Dr. Dennis Y. Kunimoto, Dept. of Microbiology and Infectious Disease, 1-41 Medical Sciences Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G2H7, (403) 492-4139, e-mail Dennis.Kunimoto@UAlberta.CA

May 16-17

Second Harvard Conference on Strategic Alliances in the Evolving Health Care Market, in Boston, MA. Contact: Laura Davis, Harvard School of Public Health, 100 State Street, Boston, MA 02109, (617) 720-9545.

May 17-19

Eighth Annual Infectious Disease Review Course for the Practicing Physician, in Washington, DC. Contact: Center for Bio-Medical Communication, 80 West Madison Avenue, Dumont, NJ 07628, (201) 385-8080, e-mail cbcbiomed@aol.com.

May 18-21

Training Course in Hospital Epidemiology, sponsored by SHEA and the American Hospital Association, in New York City. Contact: SHEA, (609) 845-1720.

May 19-23

96th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, in New Orleans. Contact: ASM (202) 737-3600.

June 3-4

Second National Health Care Conference on Measuring Performance and Implementing Improvement: A Practical Approach, in Washington, DC. Contact: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Center for Continuing Education, P.O. Box 573, Newark, NJ 07107, (800) 227-4852.

June 3-5

23rd Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, in Atlanta, GA. Contact: APIC Convention Department, 1016 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 22036, (202) 296-2742.

June 9-13

Bio'96 International Biotechnology Meeting and Exhibition, in Philadelphia, PA. Contact: Biotechnology Industry Organization, 1625 K Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006-1604, (202) 857-0244.

June 10-13

7th International Congress for Infectious Diseases, in Hong Kong. Contact: Norman R. Stein, International Society for Infectious Diseases, 180 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, (617) 277-0551.

June 15-19

First International Conference on Immunology and Aging, in Bethesda, MD. Contact: Amy Wilson, Institute for Advanced Studies in Immunology and Aging, 1819 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 333-8845, e-mail: iasia1@aol.com.

July 7-12

XI International Conference on AIDS, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Contact: PO Box 48740, 595 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V7X IT8.

July 14-17

5th Annual Summer Institute‹Low Literacy Communication Skills for Health Professionals, in Biddeford, ME. Contact: University of New England College of Professional and Continuing Studies, 11 Hills Beach Road, Biddeford, ME 04005, (207) 283-0171, Ext. 2440.

July 14-19

14th Annual Summer Update in Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, in Jackson, WY. Contact: John M. Matsen, MD, Vice President for Health Sciences, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, (801) 581-7480.

July 27-29

Home Care '96, sponsored by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, in Orlando, Florida. Contact: ASHP, 7272 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 657-4383.

July 28-Aug 1

48th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, in Chicago, IL. Contact: AACC, 2101 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, 1-(800)-892-1400.

August 31

Deadline for submission of applications for Travel Grants to the 1996 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) meeting in New Orleans. Contact: NFID, 4733 Bethesda Ave., Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 656-0003, e-mail nfid@aol.com.

September 9

Application deadline to participate in the 1996 15th Annual NFID Benefit Golf and Educational Event, at the Bayou Barriere Golf Club, New Orleans, September 15. Contact: NFID, 4733 Bethesda Ave., Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 656-0003, e-mail nfid@aol.com.

Nov. 27-30

World Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. Contact: Dr. Napolean Gonzalez Saldana, Ricon del Pozo No. 47, Bosques Residencial del Sur, C.P. 16010, Mexico, D.F., Mexico, (phone) 5-641-19-03.

December 7-11

6th International Congress on Cell Biology and 36th American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting, in San Francisco, CA. Abstract deadline June 14. Contact: Congress Secretariat, ASCB, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3992, (301) 530-7153, e-mail: congress@ascb.faseb.org.