The Advisory Forum of the European Centre of Diseases Prevention and Control had its’ first meeting with their new Advisory Forum 11-12 July 2005. The meeting was mostly dedicated to organizational matters and the role of the Centre in relation to other important actors in the field. To start with the ECDC will focus on diseases such as influenza, infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, GI infections. Other diseases, including those of respiratory tract, will become a subject of interest in the future.