The WHO Regional Committee for Europe approved a new action plan to tackle multi-drug resistant and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB) today. This is another milestone in the European efforts to secure strong tuberculosis prevention and control across the region.
The second ECDC advisory group meeting will discuss progress and future challenges in reporting and monitoring following the commitment outlined in the Dublin Declaration.
On 9 June, ECDC will be hosting a technical side-event to the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS 2011. The event will highlight how countries and regions with differing epidemiology could improve their responses to HIV/AIDS.
ECDC was pleased that the Government of Romania extended an invite to meet health care workers who are working with the Roma population. ECDC Director, Marc Sprenger, as head of the delegation shares three lesson.
During a recent country visit to Romania, ECDC emphasised the key issues for TB control. Following the invitation of the Romania Ministry of Health, ECDC disease experts, led by ECDC Director Marc Sprenger, visited the Marius Nasta Institute, which historically has been in the front line for TB control in the country.
IGRAs are increasingly being considered for the diagnosis of LTBI, as a replacement to the TST, including travel medicine. As with the TST, many uncertainties remain with regard to the efficacy of the IGRAs. It is therefore essential to secure an accurate understanding of these assays‘ known efficacy, so that they be optimally used and only in context with proven effect.
A new report, Tuberculosis surveillance in Europe 2009, a joint publication from ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe to mark World Tuberculosis Day 2011, provides evidence for concern about the spread of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and the persistence of TB among children.
ECDC is hosting a meeting on childhood TB, in a joint effort to highlight the current situation and to move forward the agenda of childhood TB in the EU and worldwide.
Location:Piperska Muren Conference, Stockholm, Sweden
Organized by:ECDC together with the childhood TB subgroup of the Stop TB Partnership
The emergence of cholera in Haiti once again reminds us of the ferocity with which infectious diseases can strike and of the complex interactions of emerging infectious diseases with social conditions, human migration, and the ecosystem.
Location:Hilton Am Stadtpark, Vienna, Austria
Organized by:International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID)