2nd South Asian Melioidosis Congress on August 29, 30
View(s):The 2nd South Asian Melioidosis Congress where global experts will interact and exchange views with local experts on this very important bacterial disease will be held on August 29 and 30 at the King’s Court, Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo.
This two-day congress on the theme, ‘Unearthing a subterranean infection’, is organized by the Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists in partnership with National Science Foundation. The Chief Guest at the opening ceremony on August 29 is the World Health Organization Representative in Sri Lanka, Dr. Razia Pendse.
A galaxy of 21 renowned experts on the subject who will be part of the congress include the Senior Clinical Research Fellow/Consultant Microbiologist, Dr. David Dance of the Lao Oxford Mahosot Hospital Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Lao PDR/Centre for Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and the Head of Microbiology, Dr. Direk Limmathurotsakul of the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Mahidol University, Thailand.
There will be 18 international and two local speakers, while about 100 Sri Lankan, 50 South Asian and 50 other foreign participants are expected at the congress. The international speakers are from the United States of America, the Netherlands, Australia, Austria, Thailand, India and Bangladesh.
The target audience includes Clinical Microbiologists, other Clinicians, Infectious Disease Specialists, Epidemiologists, public health and laboratory personnel, veterinarians, policy-makers and researchers in infectious diseases.
The ‘Nationwide epidemiology in Sri Lanka’ will be dealt with at length by Dr. Enoka Corea of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, who has done much research on melioidosis which is frequently mis- or under-diagnosed. She has raised awareness about this disease spread by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei.
The academic programme consists of a series of lectures on the disease’s history, epidemiology, clinical presentation, immune response, laboratory diagnosis, soil surveillance etc.
Revealing the hidden burden of infection requires the co-operation of a network of microbiologists, epidemiologists, infectious disease specialists, and public health personnel. This is why the congress will allow researchers and clinical personnel to meet, discuss and learn more from global experts, while developing collaborations within and between countries in the region and groups overseas with the goal of reducing the morbidity and mortality of this potentially fatal infection.
The detailed programme may be accessed on the website: www.samc2017.org