The World Health Organization estimates that at least five million people worldwide are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Of these about 100,000 are in Asia and Oceania, 500,000 in Europe, 2 million in the Americas and 2.5 million in Africa (Mann, 1989). The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is characterized by a derangement in cell-mediated immunity leading to opportunistic infections with for example Mycobacterium spp., Candida spp., Cryptococcus neoformans, Pneumocystis carinii, Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium. The third symposium on "Topics in Mycology" brought...

Three years ago when Professor Garry Cole visited our Mycology unit at the Pasteur Institute we discussed the possibility of organizing a small International Symposium on "Isolation, Purification and Detection of Fungal Antigens" limited to 8 American/Canadian scientists and to 8 French participants. The location chosen was the Pasteur Institute because of the historical and current importance of the Institute as a Center for Research in Immunology and Medical Mycology. The interest demonstrated by all medical mycolo gists we contacted led us to expand the small original meeting to an...