Abstract Submission and Presentation

 

You are invited to submit abstracts related to all aspects of clinical microbiology and infectious disease including epidemiological, diagnostic, environmental, medical and basic sciences. Abstracts related to education in microbiology and infectious diseases are also welcome.

 

To be considered, an abstract must comply with the rules of submission set out by the Programme Committee. Abstracts will be judged on scientific content and relevance to infectious disease and microbiology. Submitted abstracts that do not conform to the prescribed format will be rejected. Before submitting an abstract, it is strongly recommended that the entire “Guidelines for submission of abstracts” section be thoroughly reviewed.

 

The Programme Committee reserves the right to select papers for presentation on the basis of relevance and interest, and to choose the format of presentation.

 

Abstracts may only be submitted via the Internet. Late abstracts will not be considered. To submit your abstract, click on the Abstract Submission Form that will be available on this website no later than 15th September, 2008.

 

Avoid submission within 48 hours of the deadline for best system performance.

 

Guidelines for submission of abstracts:

 

A. Rules for submission

  1. The approval of all authors must be obtained before their names can be included on the abstract.
  2. Abstracts must be submitted via the Internet. Abstracts submitted by fax or email will not be accepted.
  3. All abstracts must be submitted and presented in English.
  4. Abstracts cannot be submitted if the findings have previously been published, or if they have been presented at meetings of other societies.
  5. The Programme Committee will be responsible for scheduling all presentations. In the event of a scheduling conflict, the presentation can be made by a co-author.

 

B. Structure of abstracts

 

  1. Please refer to the Sample Abstract provided.
  2. Abstracts must fit within the space provided on the abstract submission form found at www.icc-09.com.
  3. Text must be in Times New Roman Font, size 12.
    • Title:
      Use a concise title that clearly indicates the content of the abstract. Capitalize the first letter of each word except prepositions, articles and species names.
    • Presenting author:
      The Programme Committee will only correspond with the presenting author. If the presenting author relocates before abstract acceptances are emailed out, he/she must contact the Scientific Secretariat: icc09@ammi.ca. Place an asterisk after the name of the presenting author outside any comma or full stop.
    • Authors:
      Type all authors’ names in CAPITAL letters. Type initials and follow each with a full stop and with a space.
    • Affiliations:
      List each author’s institution, city and country. Use standard abbreviations where applicable.
    • Abstract Text:
      The style of the abstract must follow the sample format with sections titled:
      Objective(s)
      Methods
      Results
      Conclusions
  4. Avoid complex mathematical formulae. For symbols ≤ or ≥, type instead <= or =>. For superscript use caret (^) e.g. 10^6 instead of 106. Do not use Greek letters and symbols. Instead of “IFN-γ” use for example “IFN-g” or “IFN-gamma”.
  5. Tables and figures may be inserted in the abstracts.
  6. Spelling Guidelines: The International System of Units (SI) should be used wherever appropriate. Genus and species names should be written in full on first mention and then abbreviated on subsequent mention.

    The following general rules apply (Examples in parentheses):

    • Systematic names (genus, family and higher orders): capitalized (Chlamydia, Enterobacteriaceae, Picornaviridae).
    • Non-systematic names (e.g. plural): lower case (Group A streptococci, mycobacteria, chlamydiae)
    • Generic drug names are preferred. Trade names should be capitalized with trademark symbol (Rocephin®)
    • Diseases and viruses: lower case (hepatitis, herpes zoster, herpes virus, West Nile virus)
    • Please observe standard English grammar rules including a space after full stops and commas.
  7. Authors should indicate a presentation preference:
    • Poster only
    • Oral or poster presentation
  8. Authors are asked to enter 3 keywords to better define the abstract content.
  9. After having submitted your abstract, you will receive a confirmation by email with your personal address code and password (please make sure to state the correct email address!).

    Should you wish to make corrections to an abstract already submitted or if you wish to submit other abstracts later, you may use your personal access codes. Corrections to abstracts can only be made up to the 15th January, 2009 deadline.
  10. Abstracts will be subject to peer review by at least 3 members of the Programme Committee and external experts.
  11. Authors will be notified of acceptance by email.
  12. The presenting author must register for the conference.
    If an abstract is to be withdrawn, the Scientific Secretariat must be advised. If by the deadline for conference registration the registration fee has not been received, the abstract will not be published.
  13. If an abstract is accepted, an author must attend the congress and present it in person. If a presenting author withdraws an abstract or does not attend the session for which he or she has been scheduled, a sanction will be imposed, prohibiting the author from presenting papers at ICC or AMMI Canada / CACMID meetings for a period of 3 years. Those subject to this penalty will be informed in writing.
  14. If you have difficulties submitting your abstract or if you require any additional information, please contact the Administrative Secretariat at icc09@congresscan.com or +1 416-504-4500

 

 

SAMPLE ABSTRACT:

 

Validation of RT-PCR Methods for Molecular Diagnostics and Epidemiology of Measles Virus
J. HIEBERT*, G. TIPPLES
National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, MB

 

Objective:

 

A measles vaccine has been licensed for use in Canada since the 1960s and there is a pan-American initiative to eliminate measles from the Americas. Enhanced surveillance, which includes the case-by-case laboratory confirmation of suspected measles cases, is important for monitoring the status of measles in Canada. The elimination of endemic measles was documented in Canada in 2004. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for measles is important for both diagnostic and molecular epidemiological purposes. The objective of this study was to fully validate a sensitive, specific and rapid RT-PCR method for measles diagnostics.

 

Methods:

 

Two real-time TaqMan probe based RT-PCR assays for the detection of measles virus RNA in clinical specimens were selected from the literature for evaluation in addition to our RT-PCR method used for genotyping purposes. Dilution series of synthetic hemagglutinin (H) and nucleoprotein (N) gene RNA were tested a minimum of 21 times with all three RT-PCR methods to determine their detection limits, reproducibility and repeatability. In addition, a panel consisting of clinical specimens and isolates (n = 65) that had been previously tested with another PCR method (27 negative and 38 positive) were tested.

 

Results:

 

The detection limit, as defined as the minimum number of target copies that produce a positive result in 95% of test runs, was found to be 100 copies of synthetic RNA per reaction for the two real-time RT-PCR assays and the genotyping RT-PCR assay. The detection limit concentration (100 copies for all three) was positive every time that it was tested (minimum of 7 separate runs of triplicates) resulting in reproducibility and repeatability estimates of >95%. Finally, the panel of 65 samples tested with these RT-PCR methods yielded the expected results for all samples. The sensitivity and specificity are therefore estimated to be >95%.

 

Conclusion:

 

The two real-time RT-PCR assays for measles proved to be rapid, analytically sensitive, reproducible and have high specificity and sensitivity. The use of two different target genes (H and N) is desirable to avoid false negatives due to potential viral mutations.

 

 

Topics and topic categories

 

 

A. Basic science

  1. Pathogenesis of microbial infections
  2. Animal models, including experimental treatment
  3. Other

 

B. Antimicrobials

  1. Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, general pharmacology
  2. Mechanisms of action and of resistance
  3. Surveillance and epidemiology of drug resistance in Gram positive and Gram negative organisms
  4. Surveillance and epidemiology of drug resistance in mycobacteria and in fungi
  5. Antibiotic utilization
  6. New antimicrobial agents

 

C. Diagnostic laboratory methods and studies

  1. Molecular
    1. Molecular bacteriology
    2. Molecular virology
    3. Molecular mycology
    4. Molecular parasitology
    5. Molecular typing
    6. Other
  2. Non-molecular
    1. Bacteriology
    2. Virology
    3. Mycology
    4. Parasitology
    5. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing
  3. Quality Improvement

 

D. HIV and AIDS

  1. HIV Basic Science (pathogenesis/immunology)
  2. Epidemiology/Prevention
  3. Antiretroviral Therapy
  4. Clinical HIV and Opportunistic Infections
  5. Paediatric and Materno-Fetal HIV
  6. HIV Diagnostics

 

E. Virology

  1. Hepatitis
  2. Non-HIV, non-hepatitis

 

F. Tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases

 

G. Mycology

  1. Fungal infections

 

H. Parasitology

  1. Parasitic infections

 

I. Sexually transmitted infections

 

J. Infection prevention and control - health care epidemiology

  1. Infection prevention and control general
  2. Clinical epidemiology of nosocomial infections
  3. Molecular typing

 

K. Travel medicine and tropical diseases

 

L. Public health

  1. Public health and community-acquired infections
  2. Impact of climate change on infectious disease epidemiology
  3. Emerging infectious diseases

 

M. Clinical infectious diseases

  1. Adult infectious diseases
  2. Paediatric and perinatal infections
  3. Infections in the immunocompromised host, including transplant recipients
  4. Geriatric infectious diseases
  5. Clinical trials
  6. Other

 

N. Vaccines

  1. Immunology, host defences, immunotherapy
  2. Paediatric vaccines: developments, clinical trials
  3. Adult vaccines: developments, clinical trials

 

O. Education in microbiology and infectious diseases

 

P. Environmental/food microbiology

 

Q. Animal health