We are currently preparing the Ninth International Conference on Antimicrobial Agents in Veterinary Medicine (AAVM), to be held in Rome, Italy, October 16-19, 2018. This forthcoming conference follows the success of the past eight AAVM held in Helsinki, Ottawa, Orlando, Prague, Tel Aviv, Washington DC, Berlin and Budapest. This conference has emerged as one of the leading meetings in its field, which provides a very intensive program and encourages communication among the attendees.

Infectious diseases are very common in veterinary medicine and antimicrobial agents have a predominant role in veterinary therapeutics both in farm and companion animals. Antimicrobial use is still under the spotlight for the potential of antimicrobial resistance and human health risks. Valid alternatives to these drugs are still not routinely available and the veterinary medicine has to deal with their use and with a more modern and updated approach in the therapy. These aspects and many others, such as, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, PK/PD modelling, antimicrobial resistance, residues, clinical trials, new antimicrobial molecules, etc. will stay in the forefront of the topics of the AAVM programs and will be discussed in depth with the participation of speakers of high repute as well as attendees.

Veterinary use of antimicrobials has been increasingly criticized, especially for the potential of resistance transfer from farm animals to humans. Simultaneously, the ever decreasing introduction of new antimicrobial molecules has also limited the number of useful therapeutic agents. Modern approaches for infection reduction in intensive rearing farms are in progress. New ideas of alternatives and "greener" options in the treatment of infectious diseases are under investigation. What the potentials are will also be addressed in the upcoming AAVM meeting.  

We look forward to welcoming you to Rome in October.