[Report of the first congress of the "European Society for Emerging Infections". (Budapest, 13-16 September 1998)]

The first congress of the recently founded European Society for Emerging Infections was held in Budapest from 13 to 16 September 1998. About 200 physicians, veterinarians, biologists and microbiologists attended this meeting. The euphoria of the 1970's with respect to infectious diseases is now gone. During the last twenty years about thirty new infections agents have been identified and re-emergence of old diseases which had disappeared to a large extent, has been reported in many countries. Most newly emerging diseases in man are of zoonotic origin or are closely related to disease in animal (wild or domestic) showing a parallel pathology. The nature of the etiologic agents varies widely: prions, viruses, chlamydia, rickettsiae, bacteria, protozoa etc. Several factors play a role in the emergence: mutations of the agents themselves; changing habits of man as the host: travel, sexual habits, etc.; modifications of the climate or environment can influence the expansion of vectors. The subjects discussed at the congress covered a wide field of diseases and agents: plague, retroviruses, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, influenza, lyme borreliosis, tick-borne encephalitis, hantaviruses, rickettsioses and ehrlichiose, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, Borna, lyssaviruses, E. coli, protozoa, chlamydia, etc.