ECCMID 2021 Abstract submission – Just over one week to go!

Abstract submission for the 31st European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) is open for 8 more days!

Visit the ECCMID Abstract Website to view the abstract guidelines and to submit your work for inclusion in the world’s premier meeting in the field of infection.

Be sure to watch the Abstract Submission Tutorial before starting your submission.

Abstracts will be accepted until the deadline on 24 February 2021 at 15:59 CET.

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First ESCMID Online Postgraduate Education Course – Update on tuberculosis and nontuberculous mycobacterial infections

ESCMID is pleased to announce the opening of registration for the first ever fully online Postgraduate Education Course. Join a worldwide faculty as they discuss the latest developments in the area of mycobacterial infection. 

The course is organised in conjunction with the Sociedad Chilena de Infectología (Chilean Sociey for Infectious Diseases) and the Pontifica Universidad Cátolica de Chile (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile). As such, the course is offered in both Spanish and English languages, with simultaneous translation.

Sign up now on the ESCMID website.

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ESCMID Membership Discounts – Are you eligible?

Did you know that ESCMID offers membership discounts for selected colleagues?

The low-income country membership offers a reduced basic membership fee of EUR 7 for a selected list of countries. These members can also receive heavily discounted registration to ECCMID.

In collaboration with our colleagues at the European Respiratory Society (ERS), ESCMID is proud to offer a 15% membership discount to ERS members.

Find out more about these and other memberships on the ESCMID website.

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ESCMID Study Group Elections

The elections for the Executive Committee of the Study Groups listed below is ongoing. The nomination phase is currently open, in which members can propose themselves as candidate, nominate other members or support nominations. Each nominee must be supported by two other members to be eligible for candidacy. The timeline for most Study Groups is the following:

• Nomination phase: 25/01/2021 - 08/03/2021
• Approval of the list of nominees: 09/03/2021 - 25/03/2021
• Election phase: 26/03/2021 - 09/04/2021
• Approval of elected members: 10/04/2021 - 20/04/2021
• Communication of the results: 30/04/2021
• The new Executive Committee takes office at ECCMID 2021: 09/07/2021 - 12/07/2021

To participate in the election process, log in to my.escmid.org with your ESCMID credentials and click on the “Study Group Elections” icon. Only members with a valid ESCMID membership can take part in the election process. Please be sure to renew immediately your ESCMID membership, should it expire before 10 April 2021. 

The Study Groups that have opened nominations are: ESGAI, ESGB, ESGBIES, ESGEM, ESGIAI, ESGICH, ESGMAC, ESGMD, ESGNI, ESGVH, ESGVM.

For any questions, contact science@escmid.org

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PREPARE Webinars starting in March

To celebrate the end of the PREPARE project, a series of topical webinars will take place every Wednesday from 17 March to 14 April at 14:00 CET. 

Topics will include the MERMAIDS trials, clinical epidemiology, diagnostics algorithms, public and patient involvement in pandemic preparedness, outcomes from the REMAP-CAP flu domain, Health Economics, and many others.

To see the programme and register, visit the PREPARE website.

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CMI highlight: The effect of prophylaxis with ertapenem versus cefuroxime/metronidazole on intestinal carriage of carbapenem-resistant or third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales after colorectal surgery

The present work aimed to determine whether ertapenem prophylaxis leads to increased post-operative colonization with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales (3GCR-E). 

This study was nested within a quality improvement study of prophylaxis for ESBL-PE carriers undergoing colorectal surgery. Patients were screened 4-6 days after surgery for carriage of ESBL-PE or other 3GCR-E and CRE. When CRE were detected, pre- and post-surgical clones were compared using FT-IR spectroscopy. 

The sample consisted of three different groups of patients who carried ESBL-PE before surgery and received different prophylaxis.

Among ESBL-PE carriers undergoing colorectal surgery, detection of short-term post-surgical colonization by CRE and 3GCR-E was significantly lower among patients who received ertapenem prophylaxis than those who received cephalosporin-metronidazole prophylaxis. Resistance development in a colonizing bacterial clone, rather than carbapenemase acquisition, was the major mechanism of carbapenem resistance.

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