The Forum on Emerging Infections was created by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1996 in response to a request from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of the Forum is to provide structured opportunities for leaders from government, academia, and industry to regularly meet and examine issues of shared concern regarding research, prevention, detection, and management of emerging, reemerging, and novel infectious diseases in humans, plants, and animals. In pursuing this task, the Forum provides a venue to foster the exchange of information and ideas, identify areas in need of greater attention, clarify policy issues by enhancing knowledge and identifying points of agreement, and inform decision makers about science and policy issues. The Forum seeks to illuminate issues rather than resolve them. For this reason, it does not provide advice or recommendations on any specific policy initiative pending before any agency or organization. Its value derives instead from the diversity of its membership and from the contributions that individual members make throughout the activities of the Forum. In September 2003, the Forum changed its name to the Forum on Microbial Threats.

The Forum on Microbial Threats and the IOM wish to express their warmest appreciation to the individuals and organizations who gave their valuable time to provide information and advice to the Forum through their participation in the planning and execution of this workshop. A full list of presenters, and their biographical information, may be found in Appendixes B and E, respectively.

The Forum gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the members of the planning committee¹: Bruce Budowle (University of North Texas Health Science Center), Arturo Casadevall (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Jonathan Eisen (University of California, Davis), Claire Fraser (University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore), Paul Keim (Northern Arizona University), and David Relman (Stanford University).

The Forum is also indebted to the IOM staff who tirelessly contributed throughout the planning and execution of the workshop and the production of this workshop summary report. On behalf of the Forum, we gratefully acknowledge these efforts led by Dr. Eileen Choffnes, Scholar and Director of the Forum; Dr. LeighAnne Olsen, Program Officer; Katherine McClure, Senior Program Associate; Rebekah Hutton, Research Associate; and Pamela Bertelson,² Senior Program Assistant, for dedicating much effort and time to developing this workshop’s agenda and for their thoughtful and insightful approach and skill in planning for the workshop and in translating the workshop’s proceedings and discussion into this workshop summary report. We would also like to thank the following IOM staff and consultants for their valuable contributions to this activity: Daniel Bethea, Laura Harbold DeStefano, Julie Wiltshire, Theresa Wizemann, and Sarah Ziegenhorn.

Finally, the Forum wishes to recognize the sponsors that supported this activity. Financial support for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration; U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army: Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System, Medical Research and Materiel Command, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Agency for International Development; Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; American Society for Microbiology; sanofi pasteur; Burroughs Wellcome Fund; GlaxoSmithKline; Infectious Diseases Society of America; and the Merck Company Foundation. The views presented in this workshop summary are those of the workshop participants and have been summarized by the rapporteurs. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Forum on Microbial Threats, its sponsors, or the IOM.