CURRENT TOPICS IN HOME HYGIENE: THE IFH AT THE ASM

The 99^th General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), to be held in Chicago from May 30 to June 3 this year, will be featuring home hygiene and the IFH Guidelines in a symposium entitled: Current Topics in Home Hygiene.

The prestigious General Meeting of the ASM is held annually in the late spring and brings together microbiologists from diverse environments. This year the ASM will be celebrating their centennial anniversary with a diverse programme created by their members. The programme covers 25 topical divisions: diagnostic microbiology and epidemiology; pathogenesis and host response mechanisms; general and applied microbiology (including environmental); and molecular microbiology, physiology, and virology.

On the Thursday June 3^rd, the final day of the meeting, Dr Elizabeth Scott, a member of the IFH scientific Advisory Board, together with Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona, will be convening the symposium focussing on home hygiene, at the McCormick Place South Building looking out over Lake Michigan. During five sessions, the symposium will consider some of the topics and issues currently under research in the field of home and consumer hygiene, particularly the application of risk assessment for developing hygiene policy in the home. Attendees will gain an update of some of the current and upcoming issues in this field, learn about risk modelling for environmental surfaces in the home, consider the potential benefits of biocide use and consider the role of hygiene guidelines for the domestic environment. The details of the symposium sessions follow:

Assessment of microbial risks in the home using quantitative microbial risk assessment
Joan Rose, University of South Florida

The use of hard-surface disinfectant products to bring about a reduction of microbial risk in the home.
Ian Pepper and Pat Rusin, University of Arizona

Survival of enteric pathogens during laundering.
Denise Kennedy and Chuck Gerba, University of Arizona

The Potential for Transfer of Transient Pathogenic Microbial Contamination to the Hands
Syed A. Sattar, University of Ottowa

Microbial Resistance to Disinfectants: Is there Reason to be Concerned?
Charles Gerba, University of Arizona

Guidelines for the Prevention of Infection and Cross Infection in the Domestic Environment.
Elizabeth Scott, IFH

Full details of the 99^th General Meeting can be found on the ASM Web Site.