Pneumococcal disease: a symposium in honor of Robert Austrian, MD—a summary

The Pneumococcus ’97 symposium, convened under the direction of Dr. Stephan L. Kamholz, brought together a preeminent faculty to discuss the current state of our knowledge about Streptococcus pneumoniae and to honor Dr. Robert Austrian, one of the pioneers in the research into what was once one of the primary killers of humankind. My task here is to summarize these diverse presentations and the articles that evolved from them for publication in this supplement to The American Journal of Medicine.