Bienvenidos a la Asociación Latinoamericana de Infección Quirúrgica

The observant reader will notice a change on the cover of Surgical Infections to inaugurate our fourteenth year of publication-subtle, but important nonetheless. Welcome to the Surgical Infection Society-Latin America (SIS-LA) (Fig. 1), which has endorsed the journal as its official publication. Founded on May 15, 2009 by fifteen forward-looking Latin American Surgeons representing seven countries, their mission: To promote and encourage education and research in the causes, epidemiology, pathology, prevention and treatment of surgical infections and sepsis-will resonate with the members of surgical infection societies worldwide, and the readership of Surgical Infections.

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FIG. 1.

Logo of the Surgical Infection Society-Latin America.

The SIS-LA envisions active participation in public policy and education initiatives that contribute to surgical patient safety by decreasing the incidence of infection in surgery. To that end, it is hoped to have membership and an active voice with at least ten members from each of the 18 countries represented in the region. Excellence as an organization is evident through their collaborations with The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines network to adapt and translate into Spanish, and disseminate Strategies for Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infection (Estrategias para la Prevención de la Infección Adquirida en el Hospital) and Guide to Antibiotic Prophylaxis in Surgery (Guia de Profilaxis Antibiotica en Cirugia), both of which can be downloaded from the internet [1].

The inaugural scientific congress of SIS-LA was held in 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, with subsequent congresses held in Buenos Aires in 2010, Mexico City in 2011, and Porlamar, Isla Margarita, Venezuela in 2012. From May 1–3, 2013, SIS-LA will hold its fifth Latin American Congress on Surgical Infection in Bogota, Colombia (Fig. 2). Leaders from both SIS and SIS-Europe will be presenting as part of the scientific program, and participating in dialogue regarding collaborations that can move forward our respective organizations in out mutual quest to eradicate infection from surgical practice.

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FIG. 2.

Announcent for the V Latin American Congress on Surgical Infection, to be held in May 2013 in Bogota, Colombia.

The Surgical Infection Society-Latin America (SIS-LA) is headquartered near Bogota, Colombia and is led ably by Executive Director Gustavo Quintero, MD, MS, FRCS (Engl), FACS, (Fig. 3), Professor of Surgery at Unversidad del Rosario and a recognized authority in surgical infections and surgical education. He is the co-author of Infeccion en Cirgia, which can be downloaded as a free full-text e-book from the society website, sis-la.org [2]. Information about the society, its programs, and the upcoming congress may be obtained from the website or by contacting SIS-LA at direccion@sis-la.org.

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FIG. 3.

Professor Gustavo Quintero, Executive Director of the Surgical Infection Society-Latin America.