Letter from the President

Professor King Holmes, President of IUSTI .

I’d like to begin by thanking IUSTI’s immediate Past President Angelika Stary who did a remarkable job in continuing to build the momentum and quality of IUSTI events and in strengthening the organization and funding of IUSTI and establishing our new "brand," as depicted in our logo. Professor Stary received the IUSTI Gold Medal award at the 2010 Capetown meeting, and will organize the joint meeting of the 14^th IUSTI World Congress with the ISSTDR in Vienna in 2013. I’d also like to acknowledge Raj Patel’s many years of effective services as IUSTI Secretary General and in recent service as Treasurer as well. Dr. Patel continues as IUSTI Treasurer and President-Elect. We welcome the new IUSTI Secretary General Janet Wilson, who has served us well as Assistant Secretary General; and new Executive Committee Members Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of the US CDC Divisions of STD Prevention; Prof Aïssatou Gaye-Diallo from Dakar, Senegal; Dr. Sam Phiri from Lilongwe, Malawi; Professor "Sax" Yaw Adu-Sarkodie from Kwame Nkrumah University, Kumasi, Ghana; Dr. Freddy Tinajeros currently with CDC/GAP in Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Dr. Miguel Tilli from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Following on the exceptionally successful World IUSTI meeting in Capetown, hosted by David Lewis, African Region IUSTI Director, and by his colleagues, the Asia-Pacific Region held its 16^th IUSTI Conference in Bali 4^th -6^th May this year. Dr. Sjaiful F. Daili organized the meeting, which was attended by over 700 participants. Highlights included presentations by many IUSTI leaders. An overview of Periodic Presumptive Therapy for STI in high risk populations was given by Dr. Frances Ndowa, of the World Health Organization (see Periodic Presumptive Treatment for Sexually Transmitted Infections: Evidence for the field and recommendations for research. World Health Organization and Population Council. WHO, 2008. ISBN 9789241597050). This topic proved to be of considerable interest for Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific region. There was concern about use of azithromycin as first line treatment in parts of the Indonesian archipelago because of fears of adverse reactions to benzathine penicillin G., following a recent lawsuit against a clinician whose patient had an allergic reaction to benzathine penicillin G. The growing epidemic of STI and HIV and other STI in MSM and FSW in the Asia-Pacific Region was also of concern, as reported by Drs. Roy Chen and Xiang Sheng Chen. A uniquely inspiring presentation was given by Marina Mahathir on gender rights issues in STI/HIV control and on successful progress in addressing these issues after she was able to get a meeting on this issue with the President of Malaysia (the President of Malaysia at the time happened to be her father).

Another important national meeting in the region during the following week was China’s National STI meeting, hosted by Dr. Xiangshen Chen (Chair Elect for the Asia-Pacific Region) in Haikou, Hainan Province. Dr. Chen and co-authors Joseph Tucker and Rosanna Peeling recently published an important paper documenting the steady and disturbing increase of the prevalence of syphilis seroreactivity in China after near elimination 50 years ago (Tucker JD, Chen XS, Peeling RW.; N Engl J Med. 2010 May 6;362(18):1658-61). A recent review of data by an independent visiting team in southern China confirmed an increase not only in the number of seropositive persons (which theoretically could be attributed in part to increased testing), but also an increase in the percentage of persons tested who are seropositive – including antenatal women.