On the occasion of the inauguration, the Advisory Board of the KCCR was constituted and held its first meeting. Prof. Dr. Frank O. Kwami was chosen as a chairman. After his studies, doctorate and several years as lecturer in West Berlin, Prof. Kwami had been Professor for Engeneering at the University of Kumasi, then had been holding the position of Dean of the Faculty of Engeneering and later on as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, for many years. Further members of the Advisory Board are Prof. Dr. Dr. George Brobby, Dean of the School of Medical Sciences and as a representative of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Pharmacology Prof. Dr. Arthur C. Sackeyfio, Dean of Post-graduate Studies, Prof. Dr. Rolf. D. Horstmann, Chairman, Committee on Research in the Tropics of the BNI and the Director of the BNI. In 1998, two meetings of the Advisory Board were held in an atmosphere of constructive and trusting cooperation.

A further crucial step was the approval by the Volkswagen-Stiftung in March 1998 for a total of 2.2 million DM for BNI projects in the tropics, which included funds for construction and equipping of a building for the KCCR. This approval together with the funding of the financiers of the BNI guarantees that the KCCR can be developed and extended.

In 1998, projects on mapping of endemicity and genetics of malaria, studies on the influence of genetic factors in the moulding of onchocerciasis and prevalence of amoebiasis were carried out in Kumasi. In addition, the Volkswagen-Stiftung approved three further cooperative projects in the tropics:
 

1. Search for the causes of extremely high incidence of amoebiasis and amoebic liver abscesses in Hué, Vietnam, in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hué, in order to design specific control measures. Questions about the reservoir and pathogenicity of Entamoeba histolytica will be addressed by studying host and parasite variability in patients with invasive amoebiasis and asymptomatic carriers of E. histolytica. 
2. Analysis of incidence and transmission of Lassa virus in the rain forest region of Guinea, West Africa, in cooperation with the University of Conacry. A field test based on recombinant virus proteins was evaluated and will be used in the proposed programme. In addition to the continuation of field studies on seroprevalence, the programme comprises a prospective study on the incidence of human disease including the characterization of viral strains and cellular immune responses. 
3. In cooperation with the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, India, new chemotherapeutica against malaria and lymphatic filariosis are being developed. It is planned to assess the potential of putative targets for chemotherapy in the metabolism of the malaria and filarial parasites and to identify chemical leads which could be developed into drugs.

The appointment procedures for the third chair (C4-professorship) have been brought to a close. A commission consisting of members of the Scientific Advisory Board, members of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hamburg and the Director of the BNI chose Privatdozent Dr. Egbert Tannich out of the many applications because of his outstanding scientific achievements. Dr. Tannich has accepted this offer. This professorship is dedicated to the field of "Molecular Parasitology" and is, similar to the other two chairs of the BNI "Molecular Medicine" (held by R. Horstmann) and "Immunology" (held by B. Fleischer), part of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hamburg.

Like other institutions, the BNI had to suffer from financial cuts. It had to reduce its personnel by 1,5% with a corresponding shortening of funds. Moreover, it had to pay 2,5% of its total budget to the "Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" (DFG, German Research Society), i.e. about 450.000 DM. As this amount has to be taken from flexible accounts, the percental reduction of accounts for scientific personnel and scientific equipment is in fact much higher. In return for this deduction, the Institute was granted permission to apply for support by the DFG also in its main fields of work which had not been possible before. This procedure is an instrument of competition for research funds which has been successfully faced by the BNI because it was able to obtain funds of a total of 2,01 million DM from the DFG in 1998.

The Clinical Department had for the first time its own and separate budget plan to comply with the demand of the supporters for more transparency in financing the institute. The Clinical Department is and will be an integrated and essential component of the BNI. Its activities in patient care are financed as before entirely by the revenues from health insurances. A pleasant increase of cooperations between the Clinical and research departments can be noted.

Also in 1998, several prizes and honours were awarded to members of the institute because of their scientific accomplishments. After two awards in 1997, Dr. Matthias Leippe received the Karl-Asmund-Rudolphi-Medal of the German Society for Parasitology. The work of the Körber Laboratory for AIDS Research was honoured by the prestigious "AIDS-Forschungspreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Infektiologie" being awarded to Dr. Klara Tenner-Racz and Dr. Paul Racz. Dr. Kimberley Henkle-Dührsen received a prestigious Heisenberg-Fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), and several presentations of young scientists on meetings were awarded with prizes. Dr. Christine Skerka qualified as a university teacher ("Habilitation") at the Faculty of Biology, Dr. Achim Hoerauf at the Faculty of Medicine, and Dr. Thomas Marti at the Faculty of Chemistry.

Again a member of the BNI was engaged by a scientific society to organize a major congress in Hamburg: Prof. Herbert Schmitz acted as president of the "Progress in Clinical Virology IV" meeting of the European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV) which took place in the Congress Center Hamburg in September 1998.

Cooperations between different departments at the Institute were not only confined to scientific fields. Young members organized the 3rd "Tropic-Trophy"-Rallye through downtown Hamburg with 80 participants, and the soccer team of the Bernhard Nocht Institute won 2:1 against the team of the Course on Tropical Medicine.

Early in 1998, the BNI lost two personalities who have had a decisive influence on its development. Professor Hans J. Müller-Eberhard, director of the BNI from1988 to 1995, died on March 3 in Houston, Texas. Professor Müller-Eberhard has formed the BNI as only few directors did before. Professor Paul Klein, longstanding chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board in the critical times of reorganization, died on March 20 in Mainz. The BNI has lost two close friends and patrons.

By the end of 1998, Professor Dr. Dietrich Büttner, head of the Department of Helminthology and Entomology since 1974, retired. Since his first engagement as an intern in 1962, Prof. Büttner has been working at the Institute with few interruptions for about 33 years altogether. He has become internationally known for his scientific work on helminths, especially on onchocerciasis, and his long-term experience and profound knowledge about the tropics gathered in many African countries. Because of his activities in various committees of the WHO, especially many years as a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of the TDR, he has become a renown expert. The Institute is very pleased and grateful that Prof. Büttner is ready to further support the BNI in both word and deed.