The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) sponsored a continuing education satellite symposium entitled "Strategies for Recognition, Treatment and Control of Resistant Nosocomial Gram-Positive Infections" on Wednesday, November 17, 1999 at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia.

In the past decade, the United States has seen a dramatic expansion in the prevalence of Gram-positive infections in our health care institutions. The rate at which pathogens have become resistant to standard antimicrobial agents has also increased. The symposium was specifically designed to bring together health care providers who are interested in the growing problem of nosocomial antimicrobial resistance, its recognition in the clinical setting, a well as current and future strategies for treatment and prevention.

A distinguished faculty in epidemiology, microbiology and infectious diseases discussed trends in resistant Gram-positive infections. Faculty included, course co-chair Dale N. Gerding, MD, chief of medical service, Lakeside Division, VA Chicago Healthcare System, Chicago, Illinois; George M. Eliopoulous, MD, associate professor of medicine, Harvard Medial School and attending physician ID Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts; Scott K. Fridkin, MD, medical epidemiologist, Hospital Infections Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; James H. Jorgensen, PhD, professor of pathology and medicine, University of Texas, Health Science Center and director, Microbiology Laboratory, University Hospital, San Antonio, Texas; and, course co-chair, William J. Martone, MD, senior executive director, NFID.

The faculty covered the following topics:

• Epidemiology of Gram-positive Infections in the United States
• Laboratory Recognition of Gram-positive Nosocomial Pathogens
• America's Nosocomial VRE Epidemic: History Repeats Itself
• New Antibiotics in the Treatment of Resistant Gram-positive Infections
• The SHEA and IDSA Inititive for Preventing and Controlling Antimicrobial Resistance

The Symposium was held in Philadelphia to coincide with the 37th Annual Meeting of The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and was made possible by an unrestricted educational grant to NFID from Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals Inc.