The IAPMO Group, together with the World Plumbing Council, will host a two-day international symposium on Feb. 11-12, 2004, at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, exploring the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in relation to plumbing system design.

The International SARS Symposium will be a forum for plumbing industry professionals, scientists, engineers and healthcare representatives to provide information on SARS, and to discuss and exchange ideas on how it can be prevented from spreading through the plumbing system.

The following is a tentative schedule:

Discussion of the Hong Kong Health Department's report, which linked the outbreak of SARS to a sanitary system in the Amoy Gardens apartment complex, Kowloon Bay, in Feb. 2003;

Discussion of the World Health Organization's meeting on SARS held in Rome, Italy, in Sept. 2003;

A selected number of papers examining the outbreak of SARS will be presented; and

A compendium of papers will be published together with findings from the symposium.

The registration cost is $195 ($175 before Jan. 10, 2004). For members of sponsoring organizations, $155 ($135 before Jan. 10, 2004). To register for the symposium, contact Hari Ramanathan at (909) 472-4112, or e-mail harir@iapmo.org. Registration forms can also be downloaded from www.iapmo.org.