1st Latin America Summit

26–27 August 2005
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Nearly 300 enthusiastic physicians from across Latin America gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the region’s first AIM Summit Meeting. This highly successful event formed part of the official programme of the 9th World Congress of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine.

AIM core faculty members Jordi Rello (Spain) and Gilbert Park (UK) were joined by Renato Grinbaum (Brazil), Carlos Luna (Argentina) and Caio Mendes (Brazil). The Faculty presented the latest evidence for the use of empiric antibiotics ‘right first time’, with particular emphasis on data from Latin America. The Latin American theme continued with presentations on antibiotic resistance data from the MYSTIC and SENTRY surveillance programmes, followed by a presentation on guidelines for the use of antibiotics in the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia.

Gilbert Park involved the delegates in discussions surrounding the patient case studies.

As always, the interactive presentation of patient case studies was extremely well received and prompted a large amount of discussion. Delegates praised the high educational standard of the meeting and also the relevance of the presentations to the management of serious infections in Latin American countries.

Speaker Presentations

Evidence base for the new treatment paradigm
Jordi Rello

Infection management issues affecting critical care units
Gilbert Park

The current resistance situation in Latin America: MYSTIC/SENTRY data
Caio Mendes

The new treatment paradigm: selecting the appropriate empiric antibiotics
Jordi Rello

Guidelines and guidance for treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia
Carlos Luna