The role of scientific societies in addressing the threats of emerging infections: summary of roundtable discussion.

Abstract

Scientific and professional societies can play a major role in addressing the global threat of emerging infections. They can operate without the political constraints of governments and provide an enormous pool of scientific and medical talents backed by financial resources of the society. In addition to their important role of dissemination of information through meetings and publications, scientific societies can and should play a more proactive role by building scientific networks and coalitions for research and training. A roundtable discussion was held to assess what is currently being done by individual societies to address the threats of emerging infections and to determine how best to work together in the future. ### 2.1 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Initiatives of the ASM began in 1994 when an entire issue of ASM News (vol. 60, no. 5) and the president's address at the annual meeting were devoted to ‘New and Emerging Infections in the Face of a Funding Crisis’. A copy of ASM News was sent to each member of the U.S. Congress and followed-up by congressional briefings and visits with individual congressional staff. The objective was to encourage increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) so that they could implement their plans for addressing emerging infections. The Public and Scientific Affairs Board (PSAB) of ASM sponsored roundtable discussions at national meetings and held several high-profile press briefings related to emerging infections. In addition, the PSAB formed a task force to identify factors leading to the emergence of antibiotic resistance and to make recommendations and establish priorities for addressing the problem. The task force issued a report which has been distributed in the USA and South America. Recently the report was translated into Chinese and broadly distributed in China. PSAB provided scientific expertise to congressional staff and …