International Society on Toxinology

The International Society on Toxinology was founded in 1962 by a group on scientists and clinicians interested in advancing the science of toxinology. The Society had it's first international meeting in 1966 in Atlantic City, USA and it's Journal, Toxicon, was first published in 1963.

The purpose of the Society is to advance knowledge on the properties of toxins and antitoxins and to bring together scholars interested in these substances through a common Society. Membership consists of those who have conducted and published meritorious original investigations in toxinology, while persons who do not qualify for membership but are interested in the field of toxinology are eligible for associate membership.

This website is designed to give IST members and others interested in toxinology access to IST information on forthcoming meetings, subscription payment, membership profiles and related matters.

IMPORTANT NEWS!!!
The venue for the next IST World Congress is normally decided in a vote of IST financial members, at or following the IST Business Meeting at the World Congress. The provisional candidates at the meeting were Singapore and Hawaii. The Singapore bid has been withdrawn, so the next IST World Congress is scheduled for Hawaii in 2012. No further details are available at this stage.

The election of the next IST President (2012-2015) is complete. The IST congratulates Prof. Alan Harvey (UK) on his election.

The World Health Organisation have just added snakebite to their list of Neglected Tropical Diseases. This is a very important step in gaining support for dealing with the global envenoming problem.

Global Snakebite Initiative
This important project is the first major undertaking resulting from the Global Issues in Clinical Toxinology Conference, held in Melbourne, Australia, November 2008. At this meeting, attended by stakeholders from all continents (except Antarctica), a steering committee was formed to move towards solutions for envenomed patients Worldwide. It was considered by this meeting, attended by some senior IST members, that this process would best be promoted by close association with the IST, as a project under the IST banner. At the Asia-Pacific Section Congress in Vietnam in December 2008, a proposal was made by Prof. David Warrell, seconded by Prof. P Gopalakrishnakone (IST President), that "The Global Snakebite Initiative be formally endorsed as an official initiative of the IST." This was passed unanimously and confirmed unanimously at the IST World Congress in Recife, Brazil, March 2009. This important initiative is now officially a project of the IST. The Steering Committee, which contains a number of IST members, will produce a work plan and timeline to present to all IST members. A new website to promote the Initiative has been launched at www.snakebiteinitiative.org and it is to be hoped that this will progress to a major resource for the Initiative.

Global Snakebite Statistics
Recent research by Kasturiaratne et al, published in PLoS, has redefined global estimates of snakebite epidemiology. However, this is, to some extent, a "work in progress". One of the authors, Prof. Janaka de Silva (Sri Lanka) has kindly made available some of the data tables on which the study conclusions were based, with a "challenge" to IST members (and others) to provide more definitive data for each listed country. These tables will be listed on a separate page structure for this website. All interested members are urged to peruse this information and contact Prof. de Silva if they have additional data that might be used to update the tables. This work may be considered as one section of the Global Snakebite Initiative.

Clinical Toxinology
The issue of specialist-level training for medical doctors, in the field of clinical toxinology, and credentialling of such training, was canvassed at the Global Issues in Clinical Toxinology Conference and again, through presentations, at the Asia-Pacific Section Congress in Vietnam. As a result a proposal was put by Prof. Julian White, seconded by Prof. Dietrich Mebs, that "The Asia-Pacific Section of the IST supports the development of a clinical toxinology initiative by the IST." This was passed unanimously and confirmed unanimously at the IST World Congress in Recife, Brazil, March 2009. This important initiative is now officially a project of the IST. A Steering Committee will be established and a report to IST members. The IST will now work towards establishing clinical toxinology as an accredited and recognised medical specialty.

IST NEWS

The most recent IST international meeting was the World Congress, held in Recife, Brazil, March 15-20, 2009. Further details on this important meeting will be posted on the IST website in the near future. 548 people registered for the Congress from 45 countries and there were 473 abstracts submitted. At this meeting, the changeover of IST Officebearers occurred. For the next 3 years Prof. P. Gopalakrishnakone of Singapore will be IST President and Prof. Julian White of Adelaide, Australia will be Secretary Treasuer. Prof. White was re-elected at this Congress for a second 3 year term. Elections for IST President for the next 3 year term will be held shortly, as there are several candidates. The IST congratulates and thanks our Brazilian hosts for this recent Congress in Recife, Brazil.

IST World Congresses are the premiere scientific (and social) meeting for the IST, held every three years. Recent previous IST World Congresses were in Glasgow in 2006, Adelaide in 2003 and Paris in 2000. The recent Congress website is http://www.istsbtx2009.com.br/index.asp

The most recent meeting of the European Section of the IST was in Leuven, Belgium, 7-10 September 2008. The venue was Auditorium De Valk, Tiensestraat 42, B-3000 Leuven. There is a dedicated website for the Congress at www.istleuven2008.be A number of exciting speakers attended this successful meeting and topics of great interest were discussed, which combined with the location, the delightful and historic town of Leuven, made this a meeting not to miss. At this point we are uncertain if abstracts from this meeting will be posted to the IST website.

The next meeting of the European Section of the IST will likely be in Valencia, Spain, dates to be confirmed.

The most recent meeting of the Asia-Pacific Section of the IST was held in Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam, December 2-6, 2008. Information about this Congress can be found on a dedicated website, www.toxinology.org.vn. This meeting was most successful, with a large number of papers presented. Some important resolutions were passes unanimously at this meeting. Specifically, IST members agreed to support, through the IST, the Global Initiative on Snakebite and support the IST becomming the lead accrediting body for medical training in the specialty of clinical toxinology.

The next meeting of the Asia-Pacific Section of the IST will likely be in Vladivostock, Russia, in September 2011 (dates to be confirmed).

The next meeting of the Pan-American Section of the IST will be held at the Hotel Real International, San Jose, in Costa Rica, April 18-22, 2010. More details will be posted when available, both on the IST website and on a site for this Congress, at panamist.icp.ucr.ac.cr. The current contact person for this meeting is Prof. Gutierrez, JOSE.GUTIERREZ@ucr.ac.cr.