Dear Colleagues,

You are cordially invited to join the ECC to be held in Teistungen, Germany, on 4-7 October, 1998.

Only a century ago, scientists all over the world focused their research activities on studying threatening diseases caused by one bacterial family - clostridia. Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch and Emil von Behring were among the first to increase our knowledge of these bacteria and to help combating the associated diseases. But still thousands of mutilated soldiers died of gas gangrene on the battle fields of World War I. It was the arising age of chemotherapy that made us forget clostridioses.

New important diseases like cancer, AIDS or more recently prion diseases attracted the scientific interest and financial support. Due to these changes the WHO or FAO Clostridia Reference Centers shut down and diagnostics are scarely, if at all, commercially available.
But clostridioses have never disappeared. In tropical countries clostridial infections have always remained a menace to man and animal. And during the last years the number of clostridioses has increased worldwide.

Clostridia and clostridioses are coming back in sight!

This has led to a situation of uncertainty by doctors and veterinarians. Scientific approach partly lost its direct connection to the diseases complex with exception of tetanus. The diagnosis of clostridioses is difficult, even after autopsy and laboratory confirmation. On the other hand the therapeutic use of clostridial toxins, mainly botulinum neurotoxins, opened a new approach for the treatment of different diseases.

The bacteriological family of ‘Clostridia’ is an inhomogenous group of quite different bacteria, and equally inconsistent is the complex of diseases they cause, the ‘Clostridioses’. Disease and diagnosis, as well as prevention, are based on the bacteria, the formation of toxins, and the influence of mostly unknown factors coming from the environment. For years there have been ideas to rearrange these complexes, and to bring together bacteriologists, immunologist, geneticists, and clinicians. Except with Clostridium tetani, no clostridium has a lobby to promote research and knowledge. Despite the menace of bacteriological warfare by botulinum neurotoxins, little public interest remained, and research went on only in a few laboratories. The ‘anaerobic sense was merely missing, as G. Gottschalk stated many years ago.

The German Ministry for Education, Science, Research, and Technology (BMBF) encouraged us to plan this European Clostridia Conference. From the European Community we received substantial financial support within the framework of the TMR programme. Industrial companies as well sponsor the meeting.

We are convinced that our conference will bring together scientists and practitioners, junior and senior staff from different countries and continents. This meeting will focus on recent developments in the field of clostridia and clostridioses of man and animal. Plenary and poster presentations will hopefully lead to fruitful discussions of all participants from research and industry. The conference should become a nucleus to create new international working groups to promote research in ‘clostridiology’ doing justice to its worldwide relevance.

Welcome to the European Clostridia Conference 1998 (ECC), the 1^st International Conference on Identification and Immunobiology of Clostridia, Diagnosis and Prevention of Clostridioses, in Teistungen, right in the geographical center of Germany!

Sincerely yours

Helge Böhnel
Conference Chairman
ECC 98

Last Revised: 03 March 1998/Dr. Frank Gessler, E-Mail: fgessle@gwdg.de