In the closing decade of the last century, we saw warnings that infectious diseases will require much more attention from patients and physicians in the 21 st century. Recently d- covered diseases such as AIDS pose a major threat to the population at large, and to that threat has been added the re-emergence of established pathogens, microbes that were re- ily treatable in the past. Since infectious diseases already play a major role in the burden of illness and mortality, health care providers and planners are worried. A large proportion of the problem is man-made, arising mainly from the unnecessary overuse of antimicrobials in hospital and community settings and from the agricultural misuse of the agents in animal feed. A consequence has been a dramatic increase in resi- ant strains of bacteria that were considered conquerable several decades ago. Community infections caused by multi-resistant pneumococci serve as an example. These organisms were readily treated with penicillin, but now the spread of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae from continent to continent is becoming a worldwide problem. This is a major concern because pneumococcal infections are common in the community, being the le- ing cause of pneumonia, sinusitis, and meningitis. Resistant bacteria in hospitals are also becoming more prevalent. We have become accustomed to hearing about methicill- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), but now we have to be concerned about multidrug-resistant coliform bacteria and pseudomonads.

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Section I: I. Severe Invasive Group A Streptococcal Infections; D.E. Low, et al. II. Bartonella Infections Re-surgence in the New Century; G. Greub, D. Raoult. Section II: Resistant Bacteria and Resurgence. III. Penicillin-resistant Streptococcus Pneumoniae; C. Whitney. IV. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus; I.W. Fong, M. Kolia. V. Vanocmycin-resistant Enterococci; E.C. Nannini, B.E. Murray. VI. Multiresistant Enterobacteriaceae in Hospital Practice; M. Morosini, et al. VII. Multi-resistant TB; R. Rizdon, P. Spradling. VIII. Controlling Antibiotic Resistance: Strategies Based on the Mutant Selection Window; K. Drlica, Xilin Zhao. Section III: Resistant Parasitic Infections. IX. Drug-resistant Malaria; M. Loutfy, K. Kain. References.