Guideline for the prevention and m anagem ent of nosocom ial infections in South Africa

This congress edition of the journal is a bumper issue and is particularly exciting for a number of reasons. This edition appears in association with the first combined congress of the various infectious disease societies of South Africa and with the impending launch of FIDSSA, the Federation of the Infectious Diseases Societies of South Africa. Mark Cotton, as the incumbent president of the Infectious Diseases Society of Southern Africa, has kindly written the editorial describing the background, purpose and benefits of a single umbrella organisation for the various societies with interest in infectious diseases. Ultimately it is intended that each of the individual societies will embrace the journal as their own and have considerable input into the journal from a number of points of view, including editorial comment, manuscript review, and article submission. In this way the journal will