29th Symposium: Jeju, Korea 2012

Light Minutes of the 29th Symposium of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum held in Jeju, Korea in October 2012

By JOHN BIENENSTOCK

The 29th meeting of the CIA entitled “Allergic Diseases: from mechanisms to cures”, ably organized by You-Young Kim and Steve Galli, was held from October 14-19, 2012 at the Shilla Hotel on the beautiful island of Jeju, Republic of Korea. We owe significant thanks also for the  wonderful organization provided by Kate Filipiak and colleagues and the local organizers, Sam Oh and his team. Our memories of this great meeting are only marred by the ferry tragedy in recent times and our thoughts and condolences go out to all those affected by it.

Transfer by bus from the airport to the hotel entertained the passengers with reality TV which included a live duck killing slingshot contest leaving passengers with growing anticipation of the conference. However, the amazing opening ceremony was appropriately held in the open and Professor Kim’s wife, Dong-Rim Chang, and Anne Galli, were resplendent in traditional and modern Korean hanboks. The incredible professional drumming by DooDeuRak was emulated by Professor Got Rhythm Ring but the star was Mitch Grayson’s 7 year old son, Samuel, who may have found his future career. Gianni Marone said they weren’t kidding when they said it may be noisy and residents of the hotel facing the reception area found a polite note on their beds apologizing if the noisy party had disturbed them.

The food and accommodation at the hotel were remarkable, though pricing in the hotel bar was a bit weird: glass of chardonnay $20. Remy Martin VSOP $12. Some members were surprised to find a section of the dining room labeled “allergy induction food” and avoided these offerings, just in case. Another gourmet surprise for some venturers in town was the live octopus and shellfish course which came without instructions for consumption by the brave Rumour says that  Rudi Valenta has a moving record of this.. Even those of us used to hands-free toilets were impressed by those in the Shilla. The first time one saw, and some claim even felt, the metal arm appearing from nowhere was a shock but even greater when it discharged a forceful jet stream of  water. Close inspection of guests as breakfast showed many with telltale damp marks on their clothing which given the widespread nature of this event was not often commented upon. However, some say that the non-appearance of certain members at breakfast was attributed to the fact that they spent several hours a day on the toilet.

The hotel gardens were spectacular and introduced some of us to a new word in the English language, “glamping” which we found out from Anders, Maria Jenmalm’s husband, who arranged a glamping for her birthday; it means glamorous camping and in this case came with its own barbecue chef to cook their dinner.

The bonsai garden trip was remarkable and rounded off at the “informal” dinner by what in the buildup seemed to be an iron chef type cook-off by NANTA who gave us a lifelong lasting memorable performance of guess what-drumming but using every sort of kitchen instruments especially knives and hatchets. This impressed even our surgically inclined members: particularly  the snowflake effect of their treatment in mid-air of randomly tossed cabbages and other large vegetables.

The boat ride was as always the highlight of the event. The membership has never forgotten the trauma of Capri and the word seasick for participants has taken on a new meaning since then, so that the special bottle containing unknown and unspecified substances handed out in buses in preparation for the boat ride engendered questions in Judah Denburg’s mind. Nevertheless while this observer does not know what he did with the contents and can only guess, before going to the back of the bus, he took the screw cap off……

The spectacular gala dinner was accompanied by a gala fashion show organized by Professor Dong-Rim Chang and her professorial colleagues of Fashion and Design at the Duksun Women’s University. Some fearless members old and new accepted the invitation to model outfits designed by students...  The models included the Razins, Durhams, Gallis and Lowensteins. A paucity  of male CIA volunteers forced Deborah Grayson to be accompanied by her now professional drummer son, Samuel. Her husband, Mitch, left to his own devices, made up for this and squired Francesca Levi-Schafer as well as her daughter, Michal. The new Korean member, Byoung Whui Choi, escorted his wife, Young Joo Cho. Some of us felt sorry for the  only one poor real male model to counter the exquisite  parade of female pulchritude.

The evening was rounded off by a display of ballroom dancing of a kind never to be matched by any of the members except perhaps the Ishizikas known for their professional display on the dance floor. Finally came the Italian songfest. Massimo Triggiani said “the man is very good because he appears to understand what he is saying but the woman, despite her good voice, clearly does not”. It is not always possible to know whether Massimo always understands what he is saying.….

Donata Vercelli thanked her group “dealing with me on a day to day basis takes a lot of patience”. You ain’t kidding, Donata. Jeff Drazen introduced us to a new word which we will never use or understand “plithotaxis” while nobly struggling with the audiovisual system, Xingnan (Sheenan) Li noted he was born in China of Korean lineage now working in the US and thus poignantly visiting his “country of origin” for the first time. Philippe Gevaert was appropriately annoyed when our CIA Nobel laureate Rolf Zinkernagel disparagingly referred to the IgE in patients who are skin prick negative as “junk”.

Thomas Bieber introduced us to Korean teacher and warrior statues: a teacher has the right hand above the left and and a warrior left above right, or is it the other way around?. He suggested checking your lunch and dinner partners for this clue to their psychological status. Mark Larche was deemed the politest presenter for his question at the end of his talk: “Can I go now, please?”

Ehud Razin felt an affinity for Jeju Island because the basaltic rocks reminded him of the Kibbutz on which he was raised and showed a photo of that place that included his mother who looked quite lovely. Is adoption common in Israel, Ehud?

Stephen Holgate introduced Hal Dvorak and reminded us how beloved as a doctor by citizens of the Isle of Wight was Dr. Giles, also known by his father’s name of  Prausnitz. Hal, in his great Prausnitz lecture, noted he belongs to another CIA “Chappaquiddick Island Association” an island in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He noted that Kustner failed to repeat Prausnitz’s original experiment of injecting Kustner’s fish allergic serum into his own skin  and then reacting to fish extract, because he boiled Prausnitz’s serum before injecting himself to avoid the suspicion that Kustner’s serum was not normal.

Emil Unanue, who turned out to be of Basque origin, gave a most eloquent Kallos lecture and ended his talk with the pithy statement “not knowing much makes it easier to fit everything you know into a coherent pattern”.

Tom Platts-Mills requested to substitute for Dean Befus who had to return home early. Steve Galli allowed this on our behalf because he reasoned we would not have to listen to Tom ask multiple questions of the presenter. Tom introduced his talk with “I guess I’m supposed to thank the organizers for this invitation to speak.” Steve responded “You were never invited to do so”. Since Tom’s presentation included as usual gory photographs of his tick infested legs and his account of the consequences. Steve ended the meeting with the following pseudo and almost-a-limerick doggerel:

CIA came to Jeju for a stay
So we could work and some of us play
Now we know that the tick
Can make us really sick
So I think we should call it a day