Coping with the rising tide of resistance to antimicrobial agents.

The 11th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from April 2nd to April 4th, 2001. The meeting was attended by approximately 4,500 people. Sessions were well attended and included a number of workshops, keynote lectures, symposia, free papers and posters. As at many chemotherapy meetings in recent years, a major topic was the continuing growth of resistance among all microbes to antimicrobial agents, and this is the topic highlighted in this report.