ASM Participation in Japanese Meetings

ASM has taken significant steps towards strengthening its ties with the Japanese microbiology community. Through the efforts of the ASM Ambassador to Japan, Kazuhiro Tateda of Toho University, Tokyo, Japan, ASM has collaborated with several of Japan's most prominent microbiology societies. Tateda worked with ASM staff and the organizing committee of the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology (JSCM) to coordinate a highly visible ASM participation at the 21st Annual Meeting of the JSCM, 30-31 January 2010 in Tokyo, Japan. The JSCM provided financial support for ASM member Chwan-Chuen King of National Taiwan University to attend the meeting and deliver a plenary lecture entitled "Epidemiological Study Provides a Window into Improved Pathogenesis Research: Lessons Learned from Taiwan for the Global Prevention and Control of Dengue/Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and Pandemic Influenza Infections." Her presentation was enthusiastically received by attendees, who engaged King with questions and discussion throughout the conference. Tateda and ASM member Janet Hindler of the University of California, Los Angeles, also delivered scientific presentations. The JSCM provided ASM with a complimentary booth where attendees were able to learn more about ASM and register for membership. More than 1,700 Japanese attended the JSCM Meeting.  

In an effort to highlight ASM's interest in collaborating with Japanese societies and further engage ASM's 1,200 Japanese members, Tateda also coordinated a major ASM presence at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Infectious Disease (JAID), 4-6 April 2010 in the beautiful city of Kyoto. Through the support of the ASM International Speaker Program, ASM was represented by Mahmoud Ghannoum of Case Western Reserve University, who presented a keynote lecture entitled "Microbial Biofilms: Journey from the Test Tube to the Bedside." Ghannoum was impressed by the quality of the science and general organization of the meeting, commenting "the quality of the presentations was outstanding, and the Japanese scientists were first rate both scientifically and socially." Prior to Ghannoum's scientific presentation, ASM International Affairs staff member Todd Peterson, delivered a presentation on ASM and relevant programs and member benefits to the conference attendees. Peterson also hosted a complimentary ASM booth at the entrance to the exhibit hall and presented the Best Presentation Award to Taiga Miyazaki, Nagasaki University. The conference provided an opportunity to connect with the 1,800 meeting attendees by providing a clear demonstration of ASM's interest in working in collaboration with the Japanese microbiology community. Many current and former ASM members expressed their gratitude to ASM for making the effort to participate in the JAID meeting and vowed to encourage their colleagues to join ASM in addition to their national societies.  

ASM thanks Aikichi Iwamoto, President of the Japanese Association of Infectious Disease, and Kyoichi Totsuka, President of the Japanese Society for Clinical Microbiology, for their generous hospitality and significant efforts to highlight the collaborative relationship between ASM and their respective societies.  

ASM LabCap Launches Program in Ethiopia  

In 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-Ethiopia contacted the ASM International Laboratory Capacity Building (LabCap) Program to offer technical support to CDC-Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Institute (EHNRI) for the strengthening of clinical and public health microbiology laboratories at the national and regional levels. EHNRI is mandated by Ethiopia's Ministry of Health to serve its major public health programs-HIV, TB, and malaria- as the National Center of Excellence, performing referral medical laboratory services for diseases of public health performance; establishing and overseeing national laboratory quality assurance programs and systems; and training personnel on new and existing diagnostic tools. It was expected that ASM technical experts would support EHNRI and the Ethiopian laboratory network by providing on-site consultation, training, and mentoring for microbiology laboratory strengthening.  

ASM consultant Larry Buck and ASM Senior Program Specialist Lynee Galley traveled to Addis Ababa on 22-26 February to launch ASM activities in the region. After meeting with CDC-Ethiopia and EHNRI, the team visited EHNRI's National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for Bacteriology and Mycology, the TB NRL, and reviewed Federal, Regional, and Armed Forces laboratories. The team also met with University partners Johns Hopkins University, University of Washington (I-TECH), and University of California San Diego to discuss opportunities for collaboration.  

Based on the visit findings, ASM has proposed a comprehensive assistance package for strengthening the capacity of EHNRI's NRL for Bacteriology and Mycology and Regional laboratories as they move towards the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/ AFRO) stepwise accreditation. Future activities will be in alignment with the Master Plan for the Public Health Laboratory System in Ethiopia 2009-2013.  

ASM LabCap is continuing to recruit members interested in consulting for international laboratory capacity-building activities in Ethiopia and other countries. Please visit www.labcap.org for further details on the program and application process.  

Development of this publication was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U2GPS001947-01 from the Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP), Global AIDS Program (GAP). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.

TB Course in Côte d'Ivoire  

From 22 February through 5 March 2010, the ASM International Laboratory Capacity Building (LabCap) Program organized its first course on Culture, Identification, and Drug Susceptibility Testing (DST) of M. tuberculosis for French-speaking African Laboratorians in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.  

Scientists, laboratory managers, and technicians from the National TB Program (PNLT) and four major Ivorian TB laboratories attended the course held at the Pasteur Institute of Côte d'Ivoire (IPCI). The training curriculum consisted of 14 lectures and 10 hands-on laboratory sessions led by ASM consultants and staff, as well as representatives from Becton, Dickinson & Company (BD) Ghana and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). Training materials used, focusing mainly on modern methods such as automated liquid culture and identification by using immunochromatographic assays, were derived from those developed for the African Centre for Integrated Laboratory Training (ACILT).  

Throughout the months of preparatory work leading to the course rollout, which included the translation and customization of the training materials and the preparation of the IPCI's National TB Reference Laboratory (NRL) to host the course's practical sessions, the various Ivorian stakeholders-PNLT, IPCI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Côte d'Ivoire (CDC-CI), and the Opportunistic Infection Diagnosis and Research Center (CeDReS)-were not only active participants, but the major drivers. Scientists from these institutions were also among the course facilitators. As a result of this approach, Ivorians are now apt to implement this type of training in Côte d'Ivoire and neighboring countries.  

This course is part of an effort led by ASM, through its LabCap Program, under the governance of the LabCap Committee housed within the ASM International Board, and supported by the CDC's International Laboratory Branch of the Global AIDS Program, which aims to create training opportunities for French- and Portuguese- speaking laboratorians in Africa and other resource-limited settings. To date, courses developed for ACILT are presented in English, and thus not accessible to most people from President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) supported countries such as Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, and Mozambique. ASM LabCap, with its large pool of consultants and staff proficient in French and Portuguese, is particularly well placed to help to fill this void.  

Development of this publication was supported by Cooperative Agreement Number U2GPS001947-01 from the Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Global AIDS Program. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.