Leading Infectious Disease Physician to Present on Antibiotic Resistance Associated with Antibiotic Impregnated Devices at SHEA 2008.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- On Tuesday, April 8, 2008, Issam I. Raad, MD, an infectious disease physician at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, will be participating in a plenary session focusing on the pros and cons of using antimicrobial impregnated intravascular devices at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America's (SHEA) 18th Annual Scientific Conference being held from April 5-8, 2008 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. "Controversies in Critical Care: Pro and Con" will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 8, 2008.

In addition, Dr. Elizabeth Ramos and Dr. Raad will be presenting data demonstrating that after seven years of extensive use of the Cook Spectrum central venous catheter at their institution, including 500,000 catheter-days of catheter use, no resistance was noted with respect to minocycline and rifampin, the antibiotics impregnated in the Spectrum catheters. In fact, the rate of resistance to tetracylines and rifampin significantly decreased. This data disproves the commonly held belief that antimicrobial impregnated devices raise the rates of antibiotic resistance in patients and provides statistics in support of these findings. These statistics and findings will be available to the public after the presentation.

SHEA provides a forum for dissemination of the latest information on new and emerging issues, including cost-effective infection control, problematic outbreaks, as well as discussion on controversial topics, like antibiotic resistance, advances in epidemiologic methods and hand hygiene.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 8, 2008

8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

WHERE: SHEA 2008

Buena Vista Palace

1900 Buena Vista Drive

Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830

WHO: Issam I. Raad, MD, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston TX

About Cook Medical:

Cook Medical was one of the first companies to help popularize interventional medicine, pioneering many of the devices now commonly used worldwide to perform minimally invasive medical procedures. Today, the company integrates device design, biopharma, gene and cell therapy and biotech to enhance patient safety and improve clinical outcomes in the fields of aortic intervention; interventional cardiology; critical care medicine; gastroenterology; radiology, peripheral vascular, bone access and oncology; surgery and soft tissue repair; urology; and assisted reproductive technology, gynecology and high-risk obstetrics. Cook is a past winner of the prestigious Medical Device Manufacturer of the Year Award from Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry magazine. For more information, visit www.cookmedical.com.