History of International Conference on Cryptococcus and Cryptococcosis (ICCC)

International Conference on Cryptococcus and Cryptococcosis (ICCC) had its inaurgural meeting in 1989 hosted by professor Itzhack Polacheck in Jerusalem. The time was ripe for organizing an international conference devoted to Cryptococcus and cryptococcosis as the disease was emerging as one of the AIDS defining opportunistic infections by the late 1980s. At the same time, fluconazole, one of the first triazole antifungals that proved to be safe and effective for the treatment of cryptococcosis became available. Furthermore, the cryptococcal research community had reached critical mass required for holding a conference on its own in order to discuss research progress on pathobiology of Cryptococcus, host response to the pathogen and treatment of the disease.

The second ICCC was held four years later in 1993 in  Milan, Italy hosted by Prof. MariAnna Viviani. Since then, the ICCCs have been held every three years by alternating geographic regions that included Europe (3rd ICCC in Paris hosted by Professors Bertrand Dupont and Francoise Dromer, 4th ICC in London hosted by Professor Rod Hay), Australia (5th ICCC hosted by Professor David Ellis in Adelaide), the United States (6th ICCC in Boston hosted by Professor Stu Levitz) and Japan (7th ICCC in Nagazaki hosted by Professor Shigeri Kohno). The 8th ICCC will be held in Charleston, South Carolina hosted by Professor Maurizio Del Poeta.

There were 90 attendees in the first ICCC in Jerusalem and the number had tripled by the 2nd ICCC in Milan. The ICCCs have served as a forum where many young and established investigators in the cryptococcal community could meet and exchange ideas which enabled the field to make significant progress in basic and clinical research.