ISTM News

Education Committee. Our Committee continues to be active. The slide set for travel medicine was updated for 2008 and is now available free of charge for all ISTM members. You can access it on the Web under Member Services.

We have posted the first expert opinion for 2008. This case concerns a woman bitten by a street dog in China three months prior to seeing the travel physician. Dr Philippe Gautret of the Rabies Treatment Centre in Marseilles discusses the issues involved in approaching delayed treatment. Members can review this case and previous cases posted under the Education icon on the ISTM website.

We continue to work on additional slides sets and are developing a bibliography of state of the art review articles in travel medicine. And a subgroup is coalescing handouts for travelers.

The committee is actively putting together a review course for traveler's health CME credits. We also spent much time and energy in helping organize the review for the ISTM certificate examination in Dallas, Texas in March.

We are always looking for volunteers. Please join us.

Respectfully, Michele Barry, Professor of Medicine and Global Health, Yale University

Examination Committee. We are happy to announce that Kenneth Dardick is the new chair of the  Examination Committee. Ken has been diligently working with this committee for several years and has been named by Frank von Sonnenburg, ISTM President, to take over the position held by Phyllis Kozarsky. Phyllis has held the position since the examination's inception.

The Certificate in Travel Health examination has proven very successful. There is a great demand for the examination to be offered on different continents. Most recently, the exam was given in February in Melbourne, Australia. About one hundred individuals took the exam.

We wish Ken all the best with the challenge of continuing the success of the initiative and expanding access to the exam.

The latest expert opinion posted on the ISTM website, the first for 2008, concerns rabies. Our expert author is Philippe Gautret. He practices at the Rabies Treatment Center at Marseille University Hospital in France. You are welcome to comment or pose questions through the listserv concerning this scenario. Dr. Gautret will be available to respond. 

Nancy Piper Jenks, CFNP

Publications Committee. I am pleased to report that our first Evidence Base for the Clinical Practice of Travel Medicine is ready for peer review and should be ready for publication later this year.  Kudos goes to Herbert L. DuPont, who led the writing team that reviewed "Prevention of Travelers' Diarrhea." We can next expect an evidence base on "Treatment of Travelers' Diarrhea" followed by "Personal Protective Measures against Insect Bites." Following the upcoming ISTM Executive Board meeting in Helsinki, a Journal of Travel Medicine (JTM) strategic planning meeting has been planned with our publisher, Wiley Blackwell.  After this meeting I will share our thoughts for the future.

Meanwhile I urge our researchers to continue to use JTM) as your publishing default and I hope our membership continues to find JTM), NewsShare and our website useful.  Suggestions for improvement or changes can be directed to me at charles.d.ericsson@uth.tmc.edu.

Charles D. Ericsson, M.D.
Chair, ISTM Publications Committee