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An international symposium entitled Virulence Mechanisms
of Bacterial Pathogens will be held September 6-8, 2006 in
Ames, Iowa. The objectives and specific aims of this international
symposium are relevant to the mission of NIAID. Internationally
recognized authorities will present overviews on the wide
variety of mechanisms used by bacterial pathogens to infect
mucous surfaces; enter the host through those surfaces; multiply
in the environment of the host; interfere with host defenses;
and damage host tissues. They will also present strategies
the host uses to overcome these bacterial virulence mechanisms.
Infectious diseases involving bacterial pathogens are still
prevalent. Both acute and chronic bacterial diseases continue
to have a high economic burden on the private and national
health care systems. A better understanding of these mechanisms
will lead to more effective approaches to prevent or treat
infectious bacterial diseases improving public health. A
monograph based on this symposium, entitled Virulence Mechanisms
of Bacterial Pathogens, Fourth Edition, will be published
by the American Society for Microbiology in 2007. All registrants
will receive a copy of the monograph. The symposium will
be organized under the following topics:
- Introduction and overview
- Virulence genes
- Pathogenic microbial communities
- Bacterial attachment,
invasion, and colonization
- Bacterial effects on host cells
- Innate and adaptive resistance
to pathogens
- Concluding perspective
Attendees are invited to submit abstracts for poster presentations.
The symposium is intended as a source of information
for molecular biologists wanting an understanding of
how molecular mechanisms relate to the disease process;
infectious disease specialists wanting to add to their
understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of
pathogenesis; researchers attempting to elucidate pathogenic
mechanisms in bacterial diseases that are not yet well
characterized; industry scientists wishing to identify
promising approaches to disease prevention and therapy;
and faculty and graduate students wishing to gain an
overview of the subject.
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