International Leptospirosis Society (ILS)

The International Leptospirosis Society (ILS) was formed in 1994 to promote knowledge on leptospirosis through the organisation of regional and global leptospirosis meetings.

Vale Alejandro Lopez It is with deepest regret that we inform the international leptospirosis community of the sudden passing of Alejandro Lopez of PAHO. We have lost a valued colleague and good friend who in his role as a PAHO representative showed a genuine commitment to improving the leptospirosis situation in Latin America. We will miss his insight, presence and good humour. The ILS extend sincerest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

Linkage to  LEPTONET (opens in new window)

• Executive Officers
• Terms of Reference
• Conferences, Meetings
• Membership
• Other information and events
• The ILS List Server
• Taxonomic Subcommittee

The ILS can be contacted through the Secretary

Joe Vinetz
Division of Infectious Diseases
University of California San Diego School of Medicine
9500 Gilman Drive, 0640
La Jolla, CA 92093-0640
U.S.A
Phone (858) 822 4469
Fax (858) 534 6020
Email: jvinetz@ucsd.edu

Membership of the Society is open to everybody interested in leptospirosis.

There are no costs involved with membership of the Society. To join the society, download the Application Form(RTF format), fill it in and send it as an email attachment to the ILS Secretary.

The ILS List Server

Download information on the ILS List Server (rtf format) Please subscribe to this if you joining ILS. It is the principle form of communication between members. Remember to keep your email address up to date.

Executive Officers

• Roderick Chappel – President, National Serology Reference Laboratory, Melbourne, Australia

E-mail : roderick@nrl.gov.au
Telephone: +61 3 9418 1115
Facsimile: +61 3 9418 1155
Website: National Serology Reference Laboratory, Australia (opens in a new window)
Postal Address: 4th Floor, Healy Building, 41 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, VIC 3065,
Australia

• Joe Vinetz – Secretary (USA)
• Ben Adler – Adjunct Secretary (Australia)

Executive members:

• Alejandro de la Peña Moctezuma. Mexico
• David Haake. USA
• Subash Sehgal. India
• Yupin Suputtamongol. Thailand
• Gabriel Trueba. Ecuador
• Ashutosh Verma. USA

Conferences/Meetings:

• ILS 2009 Scientific Meeting, Cochin, India (opens in a new window)

Terms of Reference  The terms of reference of the ILS are:

1. To stimulate international leptospirosis research meetings worldwide mainly through liaison and collaborating with other microbiological groups either in leptospirosis or other fields of microbiology.
2. To maintain an executive committee to plan, monitor and guide future meetings.
3. To organise a meeting of the ILS every third year or as appropriate.
4. To provide up-to-date epidemiological information on leptospirosis to international and national health authorities as requested.
   

Links to other Lepto places

• Leptospira Molecular Biology Home Page, Institut Pasteur
• Monash University, Microbiology Department, Leptospira Laboratory
• Leptospira Reference Laboratory, Brisbane
• University of Trieste Spirochaete Laboratory
• Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Lisbon
• Leptospira Reference Laboratory, Amsterdam

Other information and events

• MLST data on Leptospira and other bacterial species
• For information on the International MAT Proficiency Testing program
• Download information on the book "Leptospira and leptospirosis", Faine et al. (2000)
• The WHO/ILS publication "Human Leptospirosis: Guidance For Diagnosis, Surveillance And Control" (pdf file).
• Download the 2007 ILS Business Meeting Minutes (pdf, 50kb)
• Spanish version of the WHO/ILS publication "Human Leptospirosis: Guidance for Diagnosis, Surveillance and Control" (pdf, 1.2 MB)
   

Taxonomic Subcommittee

At its 2002 meeting, the Committee on the Taxonomy of Leptospira of the International Union of Microbiological Societies approved the following nomenclature for serovars of Leptospira. Genus and species must of course be italicized, with the serovar name not italicized and with an upper case first letter. Members are requested to adhere to this official nomenclature and to insist upon it in all papers they review.

For example:

Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae
L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo

• Committee on the Taxonomy of Leptospira

Membership: Ben Adler, Roderick Chappel, Rudy Hartskeerl, Paul Levett (Secretary), Lee Smythe (Chairman), Richard Zuerner, Mathieu Picardeau (Observer) and Renee Galloway (Observer).

• Minutes of TSC Meeting, November 2005 (pdf)
• Minutes of TSC Meeting, September 2007 (pdf)