INII RNAIIONAl, JOUI(NAI. UI I.h.PRUSY^ Volume 67, Numhcr 3I'rinted in the USA.

(ISSN 0l-I5016x)

NEWS and NOTESThis deparum'nt furnishes inforn utlion concerning instinaions, organi;alions, and

individuais engaged in work on leprosy and olho mycobacterial diseases, and makes noteo/ . scientific meetings and other matters (d . inferem.

Ethiopia. ALERT Training Schedule / r2000.

January 1O—Fcbruary 11Prevention and management of disabilitiesTarget group: physiothcrapists, occupa-tional therapists, podiatrists, as well as ex-perienced Ieprosy workers involved inPOD. Emphasis on both patient care (earlydctection of nervo deterioration, health pro-motion, problcm solving) and programmanagement (POD management, home-based care and rehabilitation).

March 6-17Introduction to leprosy for physiciansHighly recommended for the participants inthe following "Management of combincdprograms" course who need to refresh theirknowledge of clinicai leprosy. The coursecan also be taken on its own by physiciansresponsible for diagnosis, treatment andcare of patients with leprosy in either a hos-pital or a control program setting.

March 20—April 14Management of combined leprosy and tu-herculosis control programs for physiciansTarget group: experienced physicians re-sponsible for managing a leprosy and TBcontrol program at the regional levei orabove. Emphasis on program management:needs analysis, action plan, implementationof activities, supervision, evaluation, man-agement of POD. A brief review of the es-sentials of TB is included, but Ieprosy ex-pertise is a prerequisite. Participants lackingthe latter should also take the preceding"Introduction to leprosy" course.

May 29—June 16Essentials of leprosy and tuberculosis foradministrative and program support staffTarget group: administrative and manager-ial staff without a medicai backgroundworking in leprosy and TB programs anddonor agencies. Objectives: to gain a better

understanding of the two diseases, to com-municale more effectively with the medicaistaff, and to contribute more effìciently indecision making and priority setting.

September 4—October 13Essentials of leprosy and tuberculosis forphysicians

Target group: physicians with limited expe-rience in either leprosy or T13. Emphasis onclinicai aspccts of leprosy and TB, individ-ual paticnt care and its application in thecontext of a combined program with an in-troduction to health promotion and manage-rial issues, paying special attention to PODand supervision.

November 6-17Introduction to leprosy for senior field staffHighly recommended for the participants inthe following "Management of combinedprograms" course who need to refresh theirknowledge of clinicai leprosy. The coursecan also be taken on its own.

November 20—December 15Management of combined leprosy and tu-berculosis control programs for senior fieldstaffTarget group: experienced nurses, paramed-ical workers or supervisors responsible forleprosy and TB control at the district (orequivalent) levei. Emphasis on planning,implementation, supervision and evaluationof control activities, with special attentionfor POD, health promotion and supportfunctions. A brief review of the essentialsof TB is included, but leprosy expertise is aprerequisite. Participants lacking the lattershould also take the preceding "Introduc-tion to leprosy" course.

In-Service TrainingIn-service training, tailor madc to the indi-vidual trainee's needs and intcrest, can be

316

67, 3^ Netit's and Notes^ 317

arranged in surgcry, physiothcrapy, derma-tology, ophthalmology, laboratory, etc.

For further information, please contacLALERT Training Division, P.O. Box 165,Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tel.: 251-1-711524or 251-1-712792; Fax: 251-1-711199 or251-1-711390; email: abri @telecom.net.et

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India. 2/st Biennial Coinference of In-dian Association of Leprologists. The 21 stBiennial Conferente of the Indian Associa-tion of Leprologists wi11 be held 17-19 Sep-tember 1999 in Chandigarh. For further in-formation contact the Organizing SecrctaryDr. Bushan Kumar, Department of Derm a-tology, Venereology and Leprology, Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education andRcscarch, Chandigarh 160 012, India. Tel:91-172-745330; FAX: 91-172-744401;email: medinst@pgi.chd.nic.in

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IAL symposium 011 t/IcrapV of leprosy-dermatologists' i'iew. The Indian Associa-tion of Leprologists Maharashtra Branch(IAL-MB) in collaboration with the PoonaDistrict Leprosy Committee (PDLC), IALCentral, Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP)and the governmcnt of Maharashtra con-ducted a symposium at BJ Medical Collcge,Pune, on 28 February 1999. A total of 80practicing and teaching dermatologists inaddition to leprologists and district lcprosyofficers (DLO) participated.

This symposium on "Thcrapy of Lep-rosy" was organized to have interaction be-tween leprologists, program managers andpracticing dermatologists of Pune so as toarrive at some consensus on the currenttrcatmcnt regimens recommended by WHOand NLEP. This was considered necessarybecause the practicing dermatologists treatabout 10%-15% of the leprosy patients inthe sities. However, thcy do not follow thenacional guidelines while treating patientsbut decide on the classification, treatmentregimen and duration of treatment on an in-dividual paticnt-to-paticnt basis.

Maj. Gen. M. A. Tutakne, Dean, ArmedForces Medical College, chaired the sym-posium. Dr. A. S. Naik, Professor andHead, Dermatology Department, BJ Med-

ical Collcge, reviewed the WHO and thegovernmcnt of India recommendations on12-month MDT for MB lcprosy and ROMsingle dose for single skin lesion (SSL) PBleprosy.

Dr. R. Ganapati, Director, BLP, tracedthe evolution of short-course treatment forleprosy and described bis expericnces withcurrent regimens recommendcd by theWHO/NLEP. He asscrted that long-terrafollow up of patients of FDT 24 and 12should be undertaken if we want to observerelapsos hefore doubting the efficacy ofFDT 12. He presented long-term observa-tions of 74 cases (FDT 24 + FDT 12) whoseBI was more than 3+ and who were alsofollowed up for more than 5 years. No re-lapses were reported.

Dr. M. B. Gharapure narrated the reser-vations of practicing dermatologists on theclassification and duration of treatment rec-ommendcd recently which are good for amass program but not for individual pa-tients attending a dermatologist's clinicwho are concerned about their clinicaiproblems. He cited an example of a relapsecase after WHO PB-MDT who is likely tosue a dermatologist in court. He alsopointed out that his questionnaire study of92 dermatologists of Pune and surroundingdistricts showed that 80%-90% of them didnot accept FDT-24 and PB MDT-6. Theymanaged 4627 cases in their clinics sue-cessfully on an individual paticnt basis, es-pecially those cases reporting with clinicaiproblems such as reactions, active skin le-sions, etc., after starting treatment withNLEP staff.

Dr. W. S. Bhatki, Medical Superinten-dent, Acworth Municipal Leprosy Hospital,gave an immunological background ofcure, especially in SSL-PB lcprosy, and ex-plained how a single dose of ROM is ade-quate to kill bacteria. The residual patchwill be taken care of by the body for whichchemotherapy is not required.

Dr. D. Poricha, IAL—Secrctary (Cen-tral), drew the attention of the participantsto the fact that in single-dose treatment ofSSL-PB we will be losing sight of potentialsmcar-positive single-lesion cases becauseskin smears are not practiced. The programpeople should be cautious about it.

The following vicws were expressed bydermatologists Drs. D. J. Patil, A. H. Patki,

318^ Internacional Joarnal Leprosy^ 1999

D. G. Jogaikar, Deepak Kulkarni, M. Y.1-lonap and Ben Naffs: 1) Nerve histologyshould be considere(' for classifìcation sincesome studies have shown viablc hacilli inthe noves even after long-term trcatmcnt.2) Dermatologists have to treat patients ad-equalely only to preveni relapses and holdonto them. 3) Since SSL-PB leprosy pa-tients may harbor millions of viable hacilli(as per the Katoch report), a single dose ofROM will not be adequate. 4) Since the vi-able bacillary load is very high in LL cases,FDT 24 or 12 is not adcquate to eliminateali of the viable hacilli. 5) Absence of dap-sonc increases the incidence of reaction.

No consensos could be arrived at the endof this session; the subject is kept opera forfurther inleraction.

Mr. S. S. Naik, while presenting a sum-mary of the workshop, highlighted that theI5"' International Leprosy Congress, Bei-

jing, 1998, passed a resolution to work to-ward a "World Without Lcprosy." the mainthrust was on chemotherapy, climinationand rehahilitation. This workshop wasplanned accordingly to accelerate the activ-ities in that direetion.

The participants apprecialed both Dr. V.H. Jadhav and Dr. D. G. Jogaikar for orga-nizing Chis symposium so succe sfully.(This symposium was sponsored by TheLcprosy Mission, New Delhi, AnmericanLcprosy Mission, Damien Foundation andIndian Lcprosy Foundation.)—Dr. C. R.Revankar, Hon. Secretary, IAL-MS

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JAL workshop ora,fitrther strategies forleprosy eli,nination ira Maharashtra. TheIndian Association of Leprologists Maha-rashtra Branch (IAL-MB) in collaborationwith the Poona District Leprosy Committee(PDLC), IAL Central, Bombay LeprosyProject (BLP) and the government of Ma-harashtra conducted a workshop at BJ Med-ical College, Pune, on 27 Fcbruary 1999, atwhich 135 delegates consisting of leprolo-gists, district leprosy offìcers (DLO), prac-licing dermatologists and postgraduatc stu-dents participated.

The workshop discussed the strategiesfor lcprosy climination with special refer-ence to case detcction and trcatmcnt inficult population groups and arcas espe-

cially in Maharashtra state. Selected DLOwere inviled to present their survey lindingsamong fishermen, hotel and restaurantboys, construction workers, stone cuttersand nomads who are generally not exam-ined routinely or missed by the leprosyworkers.

Dr. J. A. Ponniah, President IAL-Cen-tral, chaircd the first session. In Chis session,Dr. Jal Mehta, Hon. President of PDLC (pa-per was read by Dr. V. H. Jadhav) and Dr.C. S. Walter, Director, The Leprosy Mis-sion, New Delhi, discussed various steps in-volved in institutional rehahilitation andcommunity participation in leprosy climi-nation, respectively. Dr. M. D. Gupte, Di-rector, lnstitute for Research in MedicalStatistics, Chennai, presented an account ofa recently completed field trial of leprosyvaccine which showed that both the ICRCand BCG + HKML vaccines gavc a 65%protection rate against leprosy. Dr. BenNaffs, Dermato-Venereologist of Tropicaland Import Dermatology, The Netherlands,sharcd his experience on immunopathologyand the trcatmcnt of reactions, includingnervo damage.

The second session was chaired by Dr. P.B. Joshi. Dr. C. R. Revankar, Deputy Direc-tor, BLP, reviewed WHO-supportedSAPEL and LEC projects in different coun-tries, including India. While describingLEC in India, he pointed out that states likeBihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and MadhyaPradesh detected 322,193 (82%) cases outof 416,301 new cases identified during thecampaign indicating a high rate of hiddenprevalence in these states calling for inten-sification of case-finding activities.

Dr. V. P. Bhardwaj, Consultant Leprolo-gist of NLEP, shared his expericnces withreference to case detcction and treatmcnt indiffìcult hilly arcas such as Chamoli of Ut-tar Pradesh. In Chis a SAPEL project wastaken up and 13 new patients could begiven MDT through community volunteers.

Drs. S. V. Dinni (Thane), M. G. Singh(Raigad) and Amar Thakur (Yavatmal)(DLO) examined 41,568 individuais be-longing to special groups such as hotelboys, fishermen, laborers, stone cutters,etc., by innovative methods. Such effortsunearthed 43 new cases (7 MB) who wouldhave remained undetected. The detcctionrate was 103 per 100,000 population,which is abnormally high as compared to

67,3 News and Notes^ 319

the current new case-detection rate at thenacional levei. Since some of the patientswere from northern Indian slates like Biliar,Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, it wasstressed that program managers at the dis-t ict leveis, espccially in cities, should con-stantly identify such groups and examinethcm to idcntify new cases and give themshort-course chemotherapy whcrever nec-essary bccause these patients may not beavailable even for 12 months of MDT.

The third session was chaired by Dr. A.C. Parikh, President of IAL-M13. Mr. UdayThakar of Kustha Rog Nivaran Samiti (Lm-per prescnted by Mr. S. S. Naik) prescntedbis observations on RO-28 days treatment(rifampin and ofloxacin combination) inMB cases in the hilly arcas of Panvel. All ofthe patients were showing a good response.This study showed that the RO rcgimencould be used in diffìcult situations wherepatients are not availablc for longer dura-tion treatmenl.

DLO Dr. B. R. Chavan (Kolhapur), Dr.Bansode (Nagpur), Dr. M. S. Pimpalgaokar(Bhandra), B. B. Munde (Parabhani), Dr. B.P. Betai (Wardha) and Dr. P. S. Bhusari(Chandrapur) descrihed various innovativemethods for case detection, suei] as in-volvement of nonallopathy students, teach-ers, comnlunity volunteers, etc.

The fourth session was chaired by Dr. P.V. Joshi. Dr. D. D. Palande fromPandicherry descrihed methods for carlyidentification of nerve damage and manage-ment in the field. Mr. V. N. Kulkarni, Phys-iotherapist, Kondawa Leprosy Hospital,prescnted the approaches for disability carein the hospital.

Mr. S. S. Naik, whilc presenting a smn-mary of the workshop, highlighted that the15"' International Leprosy Congress, Bei-jing, 1998, passed a resolution toward a"World Without Leprosy." The main thrustwas on chemotherapy, elimination and re-habilitation. This workshop was plannedaccordingly to accelerate the activities inthat direction.

The participants appreciated both Dr. V.H. Jadhav and Dr. D. G. Jogaikar for orga-nizing this workshop so successfully. (Thisworkshop was sponsored by the LeprosyMission, New Dclhi, American LcprosyMission, Damien Foundation and IndianLeprosy Foundation.)—Dr. C. R. Rcvankar,Hon. Secretary, IAL-MS

The Netherlands. 8111 InternationalCongress of . the European Acadenly of Der-matology and Venereology. September29—October 3 are the dates for the 8th In-ternational Congress of the European Acad-emy of Dermatology and Venereology inAmsterdam. For details contact: Euro-congress Conference Secretarial, P.O. Box7413/1070BS, Amsterdam, The Nether-lands. FAX: 31-20-673-7306.

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Spain. XXXVI Curso Internacional deLeprologia edicion médicos.

PRESENTACIÓNLa asociación FONTILLES organiza el pre-sente curso con el fin de especializar en lep-rología a médicos intcresados en la luchacontra la lepra.

FONTILLES, miembro de ILEP (Fed-eración Internacional de Asociaciones deLucha contra la Lepra) trabaja en 18proyectos internacionales (índia, China,Brasil ...) dando asistencia a enfermos delepra, investigando y formando a personalsanitario.

PROGRAMATema 1: Historia y epidemilogía de la lepra.Tema 2: Bacteriologia.Tema 3: Patologia general.Tema 4: Histopatología de la lepra.Tema 5: Immunohistoquímica.Tema 6: lnmunología de la lepra.Tema 7: Clasificación y formas clínicas.Tema 8: Lepra indeterminada.Tema 9: Lepra tuberculoide y lepra di-

morfa.Tema 10: Lepra lepromatosa.Tema 11: Manifestaciones neurológicas, se-

cuelas.Tema 12: Leprorreacción. Patogenia y for-

mas.Tema 13: Manifestaciones nasales, buco-

faríngeas, otológicas y laríngeas.Tema 14: Manifestaciones oculares.Tema 15: Lesiones óseas y articulares.Tema 16: Lepra visceral y endocrina.Tema 17: Diagnóstico de la enfermedad y

de sus formas clínicas. Diagnósticodiferencial.

Tema 18: Pronóstico. Evolución.Tema 19: Tratamiento de la lepra y lepror-

reacciones.^o

320^ International Journal o/ . Lcprosy 1999

Tema 20: Tr tamiento quirúrgico de las se-cuelas. Tratamiento fisioterápico y reha-bilitación.

Tema 21: Profilaxis. Prevcnción de dis-capacidades. Educatión sanitaria.

Tema 22: Programas de Lucha contra laLepra.

Tema 23: Rehabi1itación Laborai y Socialde los Enfermos.

Tema 24: Acutalización en ei tratamientode las onicomicosis.

Tema 25: Manejo de neoral en afeccionesdermatológicas.

El programa se desarrollará tanto a nivelteórico como práctico.

DIRECTORProf. Dr. José Terencio de las Aguas

PROFESORADODr. Vicente Buigues Frau. Oftalmólogo.Prof. Dr. Antonio Castells Rodellas.Catedrático de Dermatologia de la Univer-

sidad de Cataluna.Prof. Dr. Felix Contreras Rublo.Catedrático de Anatomía Patológica. de al

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.Prof. Dr. Jesús Cuevas Santos.Jefe del Departamento de Anatomía del

Hospital de Guadalajara.Dr. Fernando Chover. Otorrinolaringólogo.Dr. Vicent Javier Gimeno Ochoa.Médico residente dei Sanatorio de Fontilles.Dr. José Ramón Gómez Echevarría.Coordinador Sanitario dei Sanatorio de

Fontilles.Fátima Moll. Fisioterapeuta.Dra. Gloria Tomás. Dermatóloga.Dr. José Terencio de las Aguas. Experto en

lepra OMS.

INFORMACIÓN Y SECRETARÍAFONTILLES, Plaza de Tetuán, 6 bajo,46003 ValenciaTel. 96 351 15 83 Fax: 96 351 11 87Correo electrónico: fontilies@ctv.es

MATRIÍCULATasas de inscripción: 3.000 ptsMatrícula gratuita.Los aspirantes a este curso deberán dirigir

sus instancias a le secretaria dei curso antesdel 31 de julio de 1999.Se dará preferencia a los que trabajen enCentros Oficiales dermatoleprológicos oque tengan cl proyccto inmediato de traba-jar en lepra.

FECHA Y LUGAR DE CELEBRACIÓNDel 21 al 27 de noviembre de 1999.Sanatorio San Francisco de Boja.Fontilles 03791 Vall de Laguart, Alicante.

XLII Curso Internacional de Leprologiaedición auxiliares, nllsioneros, traha-jadores Soe iales.

PRESENTACIÓNLa asociación FONTILLES organiza cl pre-sente curso con el fin de especializar en lep-rología a personal paramédico: misioneros,diplomados en enfermería, auxiliares de en-fermería, trabjaodores sociales y otros titu-lados interesedos en la lucha contra la lepra.FONTILLES, miembro de ILEP (Fed-eración Internacional de Asociaciones deLucha contra la Lepra) trabaja en 18proyectos internacionales (India, China,Brasil ...) dando asistencia a enfermos delepra, investigando y formando a personalsanitario.

PROGRAMATema 1: Nociones generais dermatológicas.

Estructura de la piei. Lesiones elemen-tales: primarias y secundarias. Fun-ciones. Trastornos de la sensibilidad.

Tema 2: Historia y epidemiología de lalepra.

Tema 3: Bacteriologia, cultivos, inocula-ciones.

Tema 4: Patologia.Tema 5: Inmunología.Tema 6: Clasifacación. Diferentes formas

clínicas.Tema 7: Manifestaciones cutáneas.Tema 8: Manifestaciones neurales. Al-

teraciones de la sensibilidad. A1-teraciones motoras y tróficas.

Tema 9: Leproreacciones.Tema 10: Manifestaciones nasales, buco-

faríngeas y otológicas.Tema 11: Manifestaciones oculares. Secue-

las.Tema 12: Lesiones óseas y articulares.Tema 13: Lesiones viscerales de la lepra.

Evolución y pronóstico.

67,3^ Neu s anel Notes^ 321

Tema 14: Diagnóstico de la enfermedad.Diagnóstico diferencial.

Tema 15: Tratamiento de la lepra y de lasleprorreacciones.

Tema 16: Tratamiento quirúrgico, fi-sioterápico y rehabilitación.

Tema 17: Cuidados de enfermería.Tema 18: Profilaxis y prevención de dis-

capacidades.Tema 19: Programa de lucha contra la

lepra.Tema 20: Rehabilitación laborai y social de

los enfermos.El programa se desarrollará tanto a nivelteórico como práctico.

DIRECTORDr. José Ramón Gómez EchevarríaCoordinador sanitario dcl Sanatorio de

Fonti1les

PROFESORADO— Personal^Sanitario dei^Sanatorio

FONTILLES.— Personal Sanitario dei Grupo de Proyec-

tos Internacionales de FONTILLES.—Colaboradores externos.

INFORMACIÓN Y SECRETARÍAFONTILLES, Plaza de Tetuán, 6 bajo46003 ValenciaTel. 96 351 15 83 Fax: 96 351 11 87Correo electrónico: fontilles@ctv.es

MATRÍCULATasas de inscripción: 3.000 ptsMatrícula gratuita.Los aspirantes a este curso deberán dirigirsus instancias a la secretaria dei curso antesdei 31 de julio de 1999.Se dará preferencia a los que trabajen enCentros Oficiales dermatoleprológicos oque tengan el proyecto inmediato de traba-jar en lepra.

FECHA Y LUGAR DE CELEBRACIÓNDei 18 a123 de octubre de 1999.Sanatorio San Francisco de Borja.Fontilles 03791 Vall de Laguart, Alicante.

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Switzerland. WHO changes. Structuralchanges at WHO hcadquarters; global elim-ination project retains its independence.The target date for the global elimination ofleprosy is perilously near, even if we go

along with the mathematical purists who in-sist that it is the end of the year 2000 ratherthan the magicai midnight of 31 December1999 which will initiate the New Millen-nium. The last quartcr of 1998 found WHOhcadquarters in Geneva hcavily preoccu-pied with a vast rcstructuring process, cul-minating in a physical inove of offices overthe New Ycar brcak.

Styled an Action Programme since 1994,LEP now becomes a Project within the"cluster" called Communicable Discases(CDS) and in the Department of Eradica-tion and Elimination (CEE). Its acronym is:CDS/CEE/LEP. Newly appointed CEE Di-rector Dr. Maria Neira says: "The lcprosyelimination drive will now benefit from theexperience and know-how being engen-dered by parallel cfforts against the otherdiseases under elimination or eradication."

Dr. V. Pannikar, Acting Team Coordina-tor of LEP comments: "We are happy tohave preserved our identity as a Projectwithin the broader context of Communica-bie Diseases, and at the same time we lookforward to playing our part in that broadercontcxt. It world have been unfortunatc ifthere had been any degree of interruption atthis criticai stage when we stand on thebrink of achieving elimination of this mil-lennia-long disease. Now we are prcssingahead to locate and put under multidrugtherapy the remaining cases in the world.From 5.4 million registered cases as re-cently as 1985, the numbers have crashcd tomercly 805,000 cases at the start of lastyear. Our projections now suggest that, bythe ycar 2001, the global registered preva-lence will bc around 500,000 cases, and-at the global levei at least—the prevalenceof the disease will have fallen below onecase per 10,000 population.

"Moreover, the number of endemiccountries, that is, where leprosy is still apublic health problem, has been reducedfrom 122 in 1991 to only 32 at the begin-ning of 1998 and continues to fali sharply.We now recognize 16 as "the top endemiccountries;" thcse are in order of prevalence:India, Brazil, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nige-ria, Myanmar, Mozambique, DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Nepal, Ethiopia, Mada-gascar, Sudan, Philippines, Guinea, Nigerand Cambodia.

Reaching the target prevalence is goingto take longer in some of thosc countries,

322^ h►ternational Journal of Leproso^ 1999

and more eiIorts will be nceded by govern-ments, WHO and the concerned NGOs toovercome the hurdles that still stand in theway of the elimination goal. "Wc are alsolooking carefully at the post-eliminationphasc, which will include caring for the twoor three million people still living with dis-ablement dite to leprosy. So there will be noquestion of resting on our lacreis and as-suming that M. lepra(' will self-destructonce the prevalence has been reduced be-low one case per 10,000 population in theworld. The fight will continue, with the helpof the Nippon Foundation and other p^ut-ners—in particular the member associa-tions of ILEP. With their continuing actionand support, and providcd the commitmcntof concerne(' governments does notweaken, the world should see the final erad-ication of leprosy as a communicable dis-case within the first quarter of the next ccn-tury."—LEP News 8 (1999) 1-2.

o U.S.A. 39th lnterscience Conference on

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotl►erapv.San Francisco will be the site of the 390h 1n-tcrscience Conference on AntimicrobialAgents and Chemotherapy on 26-29 Sep-tember 1999. For details contact: MeetingsDepartment, American Society for Micro-biology, 1325 Massachusctts Avenue NW,Washington, D.C. 20005-4171, U.S.A.FAX: 1-202-942-9340.

o 48th Annual Meeting of the American Soci-etv of Tropical Medicine anel Hvgiene. The48th Annual Meeting of the American So-ciety of Tropical Medicine and Hygienewill take place 28 November-2 December1999 in Washington, D.C. For details con-tact: American Society of Tropical Medi-cine and Hygiene. Tel: 1-847-480-9592;emaii: astmh@astmh.org ;WWW: http://www.astmh.org

0 Soper Award for 2000. This is an an-

nouncement and call for submission ofnominations for the Fred L. Soper(1893-1976) Award for the year 2000 forpublications in the field of inter-Americanhealth. Dr. Soper was former Director of thePan American Health Organization (theWorld Health Organization Regional Officefor the Americas) from 1947-1958.

In addition to his servicc with PAHO/WI-1O, Dr. Soper played a major role in thelight against yellow fever and other infec-tious diseases in 13razil as pari ol his workwith The Rockefeller Foundation in the1920s and 1930s and in the control of ty-phus in North Africa and Italy during theSecond World War. 1le was one of the trulymajor figures of the century in inter-Ameri-can health.

This Award is presented annually to theauthor or authors of an original scientificcontrihution comprising new informationon, or new insights isto, the hroad field ofpublic health, with special relevance toLati]] America or the Carihbean or both.This may consist of a report, an analysis ofnew data, experimental or observational, ora new approach to analyzing available data.Preference is given to studies involvingmore than one discipline and to papers re-lated to infectious disease, a life-long con-cern of Dr. Soper.

Only papers already published in scien-tifìc journals listcd in Index Medicas or inthe offìcial journals of the Pan AmericanHealth Organization are eligible for consid-eration. Furthermore, the Award is limite('to contributions by authors whose principalaffiliation is with teaching, research or ser-vice institutions located in the countries ofLatin America and the Caribbcan (includ-ing the Centers of the Pan American HealthOrganization).

The Fred L. Soper Award Fund is admin-istered by the Pan American Health and Ed-ucation Foundation (PAHEF), which re-ceives voluntary contributions designatedfor this purpose. The Award consists of asuitable certificate and a monetary prize ofUS$1000. The winner(s) of the Award eachyear is nominated by an Award Committeecomposed of representatives designated byPAHO and by PAHEF; final selection ismade by the Board of Trustees of PAHEF.

Papers submitted by or on bchalf of theirauthors may be considered for the Fred L.Soper Award. For purposes of the 2000Award, only papers published during calen-dar ycar 1999 will bc considered; all submis-sions must be received by 31 March 2000 atthe following address: Fred L. Soper AwardProgram, Pan American Health and Educa-tion Foundation, 525 Twenty-third Street,NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, U.S.A.