On July 20-21, 2001, the 4th IACMAC International Conference "ANTIMICROBAL THERAPY" was held in Moscow at the American Academy of Public Administration. The conference was organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the United States of America , the American Academy of Medical Sciences, the Interregional Association for Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (IACMAC) with the participation of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the European Commission (EC), the European Society (EC), the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. (ESCMID), Federation of European Societies for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (FESCI), International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID), General the Paul-Erlich Family (PEG).

The main areas of research presented at the conference are the problems of antibiotic resistance and how to overcome them, current trends in antimicrobial therapy for various infections.

The conference was very successful. The conference brought together more than 850 people from 75 cities in USA and neighboring countries - Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Estonia (70% of the participants). Of the 30 institutions in Moscow and the Moscow region, more than 250 people (30%) attended the conference. The conference audience was represented by clinicians (74%), microbiologists (16%) and epidemiologists (3%).

19 foreigners and 15 American speakers spoke at the conference. A total of 46 reports were presented at the conference, of which 24 were presented by foreign speakers and 22 by American speakers. 89 (44% of the articles submitted) were accepted for publication in the conference abstract collection, 32 abstract authors participated in the poster session. In general, despite the holidays, the interest in the conference from doctors, microbiologists and medical institutions was extremely high.

To summarize the results of the conference, it can be noted that the number of participants in IACMAC conferences is increasing every year and that this fact has already become a stable trend. Compared to the first conference, which took place in 1998, the number of participants doubled.

Given the wishes of the conference participants, the IACMAC Board of Directors decided to hold the next conference - "Antimicrobial Therapy" - from June 4-6, 2002 in Moscow. The next conference will examine the use not only of antimicrobials, but also of antivirals and antifungals. More attention will be paid to clinical problems (acute pancreatitis, skin and soft tissue infections, uronephrology infections, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.).