On February 29th - March 1st, the II Russian Congress on Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases took place in Moscow. It is the main event of the year for specialists in the field of diagnosing, treating, and preventing infectious diseases. The congress brought together more than 1500 participants from 81 regions of Russia and 268 cities, as well as from the Republic of Belarus, China, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, Germany, Iraq, and Israel. This event became a key platform for knowledge and experience exchange between leading scientists and practicing doctors.

The opening of the congress took place in the Grand Hall of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel RCMID 2024. The participants listened to the address of the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Albertovich Murashko. "Within the framework of the Russian Congress on Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, great attention is paid to the medicine of the new generation, based on completely new approaches and disease diagnostics, primarily infectious diseases," noted Mikhail Albertovich. Words of welcome were also given by the Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, Andrey Nikolaevich Plutnitsky; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, President of the Russian Society of Medical Microbiology (FLM), Acting Director of the Federal State Institution "State Research Institute of Medical Microbiology and Epidemiology" of the Federal Medical- Biological Agency of Russia, Head of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics of the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Chief External Specialist in Medical Microbiology and Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics of the Healthcare Department of St. Petersburg, Andrey Mikhailovich Ivanov; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, President of the Microbiological Society, Head of the Department of Microbiology at the Biological Faculty of Moscow State University, Head of the Department of Biology of Extremophilic Microorganisms and Chief Research Fellow at the Federal Research Center of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Elisaveta Aleksandrovna Bonch-Osmolovskaya; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, President of the Association of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Rector of the Saratov State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Chief External Specialist of the Ministry of Health of Russia in Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Resistance, Roman Sergeevich Kozlov. The audience also received an address from Academic Secretary of the Department of Medical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Ivanovich Starodubov.

During the plenary session, dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS),
distinguished scientists and specialists in the field of microbiology, immunology, and infectious diseases gave presentations. Among them were Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Rector of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Further Professional Education Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education of the Ministry of Health of Russia, D.A. Sychev; Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Director of the Federal Research Center of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, V.G. Akimkin; Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Scientific Director of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums named after I.I. Mechnikov, Head of the Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology at the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia (Sechenov University), V.V. Zverev; Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Director of the F.F. Erisman Institute of Public Health, Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Evidence- Based Medicine at the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia (Sechenov University), N. I. Brikko; Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Deputy Director for Research at the National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after N.F. Gamaleya of the Ministry of Health of Russia, D. Yu. Logunov; Academician
of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Microbiology, Antimicrobial Therapy, and Epidemiology named after V.I. Kulakov of the Federal State Budgetary Institution National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology named after Academician V.I. Kulakov of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Head of the Medical Microbiology Training Center at the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Professor of the Department of Microbiology and Virology at the Pediatric Faculty of the National Medical Research University named after N.I. Pirogov of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Chief External Specialist on Medical Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia, T. V. Priputnevich; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Director of the F.F. Erisman Institute of Public Health at the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia (Sechenov University), O. A. Svitch; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Rector of the Saratov State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Chief External Specialist of the Ministry of Health of Russia on Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobial Resistance, R. S. Kozlov; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Genomic Research and Computational Biology, Chief Research Fellow of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Research Institute for Systemic and Socially Significant Infections Problems of Rospotrebnadzor, E. N. Ilyina; and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Deputy Director for Medical Biotechnology of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Mechnikov Research Institute for Vaccines and Sera of Rospotrebnadzor, A. V. Aleshkin. They emphasized the importance of conducting such large-scale specialized events, highlighted current issues, summarized the work of previous years, and discussed plans for the upcoming year.

During his presentation, Dmitry Alekseevich Sychev focused on the issue of medical workforce training and the need for improvement in the system of continuous education, particularly in the field of medical microbiology. He emphasized that "... the quality and safety of medical care directly depend on the quality of medical education and the education of other healthcare professionals, especially within the framework of continuing professional development."

The participants had the opportunity to listen to unique presentations, take part in numerous discussions, and practical workshops.

The second day of the II Russian Congress on Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases began in the Grand Hall with a round table discussion on "Medical Microbiology - Education and Accreditation Issues." At this session, Elena Vasilyevna Aliyeva, MD, Associate Professor, Deputy Head and Professor at the Center for Medical Microbiologists Training of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Advanced Training of the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education of the Ministry of Health of Russia, and Natalya Nikolaevna Vetsheva, MD, Director of the Federal Accreditation Center of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institute of Advanced Training of the Russian Medical Academy of Continuous Professional Education of the Ministry of Health of Russia, discussed the problems of education and accreditation in the field of "Medical Microbiology."

In her presentation, Elena Vasilyevna highlighted the difficulties that specialists face during the periodic accreditation of medical bacteriologists. Additionally, she explained the situation regarding the transition of professionals with non-medical backgrounds to the new specialty of "Medical Microbiology."

Natalya Nikolaevna provided detailed insights into the topic of accreditation and certification of specialists at the Federal Accreditation Center (FAC). She explained the process and the various departments through
which the accreditation documents pass, the expected time for review, possible reasons for rejection, and the common mistakes made by specialists when submitting their documents.

This section became the leader in terms of the number of questions from the audience. The speakers provided thorough answers to each of them.

Next, a section on microbiota and biobanking took place in the hall, where participants discussed the experience of using nasal secretion simulators to correct the nasal microbiota of subjects in experiments such as "Dry Immersion" and "Sirius." They also discussed the application of the multisubstrate testing method to characterize microbial communities in the habitation environment of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), the significant role of the microbiome in the development of peri-implantitis, and other related topics. Additionally, there was a section on the implementation of nature-like products through the prism of the microbiome, where subjects such as the use of omics technologies for the characterization of bacterial strain-pharmabiotics and algorithms and results of searching for specific genes and products in the human gut microbiota were raised.

In the evening, an open meeting of the specialized commission of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on medical microbiology was held in the Grand Hall. During the meeting, reports from the chief freelance specialists in medical microbiology from the federal districts were heard. There were also presentations on quality control of microbiological research and the digitization of the work of microbiological laboratories.

In the "Tolstoy" Hall throughout the day, new trends in microbiology, virology, and immunology were discussed, along with the development of bacteriological research, new means of prevention and therapy for infectious diseases, and modern aspects of microbiological diagnostics of infectious diseases.

In the "Pushkin" Hall, there were sections dedicated to current aspects of infectious diseases, specific issues in virology and parasitology, as well as progress in bacteriology and mycoses in the practice of medical
microbiologists.

Throughout the day, there was a poster section where over 60 participants presented their works on current topics. The Scientific Committee of the Congress recognized 10 presentations as the most relevant, informative, well-structured, and awarded them with diplomas.

In parallel with the scientific part of the Congress, there was an exhibition featuring 32 equipment, reagent, and information technology manufacturers for microbiological diagnostics. They showcased their products. As Tatiana Valerevna Priputnevich emphasized in her speech, "our exhibition demonstrated that when it comes to import substitution, we have moved from words to action: today, a lot has been done in this direction."

The General Partner of the event was LLC "AURORA," and the Platinum Partner was LLC "Rusbiopharm."

Additionally, the following companies participated in the exhibition: LLC "GEM," LLC "Micro-Lab," LLC "Profilab," LLC "Helena Russ," LLC Scientific Production Firm "Litekh," LLC "Daniess Technology," LLC "Helicon Company," LLC "Novolabsystem," LLC "Gerdamed," LLC "3C-Laboratory," LLC "Algimed," LLC "Interlabservice," LLC "Medika Group," LLC "Biolain," JSC "Ecolab," LLC "Oksimed," LLC "Biovitrum," LLC "Sintol," LLC "Enerholab," LLC "Unichelse," LLC "Epidbiomed Diagnostics," LLC "DNA Technology," LLC "Elite M," LLC "ALIFAX," LLC Scientific and Production Association "Immunotex," LLC "Agros-International," LLC "Evotek-Mirai Genomics," LLC "biomerie Rus," and the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor."

At the solemn closing of the Congress, Tatiana Valerevna Priputnevich expressed her gratitude to all the speakers and participants for their active involvement in the section sessions and engaging discussions. She also extended her wishes to meet everyone again in exactly one year at the III Russian Congress on Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases!