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After Christmas, summer holidays, Argentina's Bicentennial
celebrations and other circumstances that are as ephemeral as
time, we are coming to the end of the XXI
World Allergy Congress (WAC
2009). We continue working in 2010 with unusual satisfaction,
after having been able to organize an extraordinaryWAC
2009, not only from the point of view of scientific
excellence but also from the perspective of the social program.
The organizational and logistical work done by the Organizing
Committee, especially the local one, and the Professional
Congress Organizer (PCO) of Argentina was world-class and of
such efficiency that it was highlighted by many colleagues and
friends in their warm letters of congratulation.
We specially thank our closest collaborators for their
commitment, selflessness and time devoted to the organization of WAC
2009 since
they were essential for the achievement of this success. We
expected to hold a congress that would finally ratify what we
are capable of doing in the field in our country when we commit
ourselves to working with seriousness, creativity, dedication
and respect for the rules that make ventures successful, and we
feel the satisfaction of having attained it. Moreover, we want
to express our pride in having been able to show all of
Argentina’s greatness. At every minute, this Cordobese and this
Italian that sign below have felt how “our” dear Buenos Aires
welcomed us with her traditional and warm hospitality and beauty.
We had to preside over this congress in a very complicated
context, the world financial crisis that still affects the
global economy, Swine Flu and other international and local
obstacles are just some examples of those difficulties, but...we
did it!
We would like to highlight the wonderful work done by
Argentina’s PCO, Ana Juan Congresos, as well as the
collaboration of the WAO, Edi Inc. Secretariat in the United
States.
WAC 2009 has
been the result of many years of enormous work of the different
committees, but, especially, of the small and stoic local
committee that worked with total commitment and generosity
during the last year in the final stages of the organization,
which were the hardest and most intense. For us, the
undersigned, organizing WAC
2009 meant
to continue serving WAO and trying to devote our years of
dedication and experience to the international community of the
field. To all who made WAC
2009 possible,
to sponsors, to hired service companies that worked with great
professionalism, to those who encouraged us, to those who
constructively and healthily criticized us, to those who gave us
ideas and affection, to those who have glowingly praised us...
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Kind regards, |
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Chairman
WAC 2009 |
Prof. G. Walter Canonica
Professor of Medicine
University of Genoa DIMI
Genoa, Italy |
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Chairman
WAC 2009 |
Prof. Carlos E. Baena-Cagnani
Catholic University of Córdoba
Córdoba, Argentina
University of Genoa DIMI
Genoa, Italy |
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2º INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON IMMUNOTHERAPY |
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Emulating the success of Bangkok 2007, the 2º International
Symposium on Immunotherapy was held in Buenos Aires with new and
innovative ideas and a new format. Together with the traditional
plenary sessions “Breakout Sessions” were programmed to enable
participants to listen to specific topics related to this
treatment of their interest. The conferences and sessions
presented by world experts on this topic were followed by a
great number of participants on the first day of the Congress;
the room had 1.800 seats and… there were people standing! |
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1º INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON RHINOSINUSITIS |
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Michael A. Kaliner, former President of WAO, together with Mario
Zernotti, Claus Bachert and Ruby Pawankar, designed the 1º
International Symposium on Rhinosinusitis. This program also had
great acceptance by the participants that attended the
conferences and had an active participation in debate and
question-answer sessions on the last day of WAC 2009. We
appreciate Mike and Mario’s idea to carry out this symposium. |
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2º INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD ALLERGY |
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Also along the same lines of Bangkok programs, the 2º
International Symposium on Food Allergy was held with great
success. Two international authorities on the subject, Prof.
Sami Bahna, President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma
& Immunology and Dr. Alessandro Fiocchi led this educational
activity which attracted the interest of 600 participants. |
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1º WAO GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON PEDIATRIC ASTHMA |
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Thanks to the idea of one of the Presidents of the
Congress, the 1º International Conference on Pediatric
Asthma was held on the last day of WAC 2009. This
program was directed by Carlos E Baena-Cagnani, Stanley
Szefler and Peter Le Souëf, and featured the
participation of international renowned speakers such as
Andrew Bush, Robert Lemanske and Heather Zar, among
others.
This activity was related to the World
Allergy Day (WAD), which
focused on pediatric asthma.
On this day, the Declaration on the Rights of Asthmatic
Children was issued, which has been recently published
(JO Warner, N Rosario, P Potter, U Wahn, CE
Baena-Cagnani. A children's asthma charter. Ped Allergy
Immunol 21: 1-Part-I, 1-2, 2010). On more than one
occasion, the 900 seats in rooms Libertador A and B were
filled. The scientific program was excellent, with
plenary sessions and “breakout
sessions”. |
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During WAC 2009 six special activities were carried out. These
enriched the scientific program and showed once more that WAO is
an organization that attracts international activities of great
importance. |
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The American NHLBI
(National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) has
been developing a research program for several years now
with different studies that shed light on different
asthma phenotypes. Several of the results already
obtained and some hypotheses generated by these studies
were presented in Buenos Aires. |
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As for the World
Health Organization, it held a consultation on
the definition of severe asthma in the headquarters of
the United Nations in Geneva. Its main objective was to
reach a definition of this growing problem that would be
operative not only in developed but also in middle and
low-income countries. Several participants in the
Congress were present in this consultation; such is the
case of J. Bousquet, C.E. Baena-Cagnani, K. Rabe and A.
Bush, among others. The first reports drawn from this
meeting in Geneva were presented in a special symposium. |
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The scientific program dealing with nutritional aspects of food
allergy was extensive and varied. As a crowning achievement of
this program, a meeting of experts was held in Buenos Aires
concerning WAO’s Position Paper about the diagnosis and
treatment of cow’s milk allergy: DRACMA
(Diagnosis and Rationale for Action against Cow's Milk Allergy),
which has been recently launched in Milan. This program was led
by Dr. Alessandro Fiocchi. |
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GA2LEN is
a network of excellence which promotes research on
allergy in Europe. During WAC 2009, GA2LEN focused on
the dermatologic aspects of allergy, mainly based on the
guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic
urticaria, which GA2LEN has recently published. |
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ARIA (Allergic
Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma) is
a guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of Rhinitis
and its comorbidities, especially asthma, which has
achieved worldwide recognition. This program led by Jean
Bousquet was developed in collaboration with the World
Health Organization. During WAC, several topics related
to the ARIA initiative were presented and it was in
Buenos Aires where the ARIA Executive Committee met for
the first time. The latter is made up by the following
members: J. Bousquet, C.E. Baena-Cagnani, C. Bachert,
G.W. Canonica, A. Cruz and T. Zuberbier. |
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Allergic and Asthmatic
Patients Summit: During
WAC 2009, the World Summit of patients with asthma, allergy and
other chronic respiratory diseases was held in collaboration
with UNASMA, EFA from Europe and FUNDALER from Argentina.
Marianella Salapatas (EFA), Otto Spranger (EFA), Antje
Fink-Wagner (EFA), J. Lötvall (President of EAACI) and Natalio
Salmún, together with Edgardo Jares and Marcelo Kohan, carried
out this activity, which will give birth to the Buenos Aires
Declaration of Asthmatic Patients.
Under the sponsorship from GARD Argentina (Global Alliance
against Chronic Respiratory Diseases, WHO) and the support of
the Ministry of Health of Buenos Aires, a sanitary trailer was
set up for patients to undergo spirometry and allergy tests.
These activities involved the whole community and marked a
milestone in allergy world congresses working with the
community. |
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Sister Society Symposia
27 WAO sister societies participated in the Sister Society
Symposia held during WAC 2009. On this occasion, the number of
this type of sessions was far superior to previous editions.
More than 1000 professionals attended. The selected topics were
varied and included the different areas of allergology.
Among the most attended symposiums, there were two that stood
out: one from the Brazilian Society of Allergy and
Immunopathology titled “Allergic Diseases and Parasitosis”, and
the other symposium from the British Society for Allergy and
Clinical Immunology titled “Sublingual Immunotherapy.”We
thank all the Sister Societies that participated in WAC 2009 and
collaborated on the development of this ambitious Scientific
Program. |
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WAO House of Delegates
As it is tradition, the WAO House of Delegates was held,
presided over by Prof. G W Canonica in his capacity as President
of WAO.
Delegates from all the countries that have Allergy Societies and
that are members of WAO as well as of Regional Societies and
affiliate organizations participated. Prof. Canonica made a
summary of the two years of his successful presidency, which was
unanimously approved of by the delegates.
Also, the presentation of the candidate cities to organize the
WAC 2015 World Allergy Congress was made and Seoul, Korea was
the chosen one by the delegates.
Tribute was paid to those who collaborated selflessly in the
2008-2009 Board of Directors and the new 2010-2011 Board of
Directors was ratified.
Finally, Prof. Canonica handed over the hammer which stands for
the WAO presidential power to Dr Richard F Lockey from Tampa,
Florida, United States. |
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The request for WAC 2009 organization started in 2002 during
Dr.Anahí Yáñez presidency. Buenos Aires ran for and won the host
city designation for the 2009 World Congress. The group that
made the presentation (C Crisci, EJ Jares, H Neffen and A Yáñez)
was led by Dr CE Baena-Cagnani who, on that occasion, assumed
the presidency of WAO and of the Local Organizing Committee.
From that moment on, work was done silently, but steadily, and
in the year 2007 the committees that would work in the Congress
in conjunction with Ana Juan Congresos company from Buenos Aires
started to be set up.
The scientific program was designed by a group of recognized
experts and researchers in the field and the meetings came one
after another in Europe as well as in the United States.
Two meetings deserve special consideration: in January 2009 the
Scientific Committee Executive Group met in Paris to complete
the program. That meeting was attended by Carlos E.
Baena-Cagnani, G. Walter Canonica, Jean Bousquet, Richard F.
Lockey, Cezmi Akdis, Karen Henley, Mariú Denovi (Ana Juan
Congresos) and Chiara Criugliano (University of Genoa).
The second meeting that is worth mentioning is the one held in
August 2009, in Cancun, where the final program was developed,
international travel grants were assigned, and abstracts and
papers were organized. Besides, this meeting came in useful to
visit the WAC 2011 host city along with our Mexican colleagues.
The meeting was attended by: Natalia Jauregui and Hernán Marano
(AJC), Charu Malik, Kate Kirchner and Katie Vande Zande (WAO)
and the same colleagues that were in Paris, except for Jean
Bousquet who was replaced by Juan Carlos Ivancevich. Mario
Zernotti and Carolina Sedrán also participated. |
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The WAC 2009 Organizing Committee gratefully thanks those who
made this extraordinary Congress possible by providing their
services: Ana Juan Congresos (Professional Congress Organizer),
BiniVisión from Córdoba (audiovisual equipment), Sergio Ochoa
(event organizer), José María Oribe (publicist). Estudio Pino y
Asociados (Accountancy Practice), Ana de Choch Asseo
(Simultaneous Interpretation), Pallissó Diseño Arquitectura
Express (Technical Direction, Signs and Structures for the
Secretariat) and Conti Tecnología Informática (Accreditations).
Prof. Carlos E. Baena-Cagnani would like to give special thanks
to: Mariú Denovi, Carolina Sedrán, Jimena Alvarez de Toledo,
Candela Fernández Wyngaard, Natalia Jauregui, Susana Ibáñez,
Ivanna Yurcich, Paula Paladini, Katie Vande Zande and Carla
Flecha. |
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