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MediLabSecure Newsletter n°3
January 2017

 
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medilabsecure@pasteur.fr
Happy new year 2017!
Let it bring peace, health and happiness to all of you!
We thought that the beginning of year might be the perfect occasion to draw a retrospective of the main activities that have been carried out since the project has been launched. 

It looks like we have come a long way!

Thanks to everyone who helped making this happen!


 
MediLabSecure website refurbished !
 
Many new sections have been added to the MediLabSecure website to reflect the network activities and more.

In particular, these sections have been updated:
- Events page with links to workshops, meetings, site visits, and project dissemination activities
- Useful links & tools
MediLabSecure Network Publications

MediLabSecure contribution to Zika preparedness

The current Zika virus emergence has highlighted the global need to conduct comprehensive risk assessments and develop preparedness activities against arboviral threats.

An article published in BMC Public Health examines how the actions and strategies implemented by the MediLabSecure network contribute to the prevention and control of the Zika virus threat in the Euro-Mediterranean area. 

To cite this article, please use:
Risk of Zika virus transmission in the Euro-Mediterranean area and the added value of building preparedness to arboviral threats from a One Health perspective. Escadafal C, Gaayeb L, Riccardo F, Pérez-Ramírez E, Picard M4, Dente MG, Fernández-Pinero J, Manuguerra JC, Jiménez-Clavero MÁ, Declich S, Victoir K, Robert V. BMC Public Health. 2016 Dec 3;16(1):1219. 
PMID: 27914465. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-016-3831-1

Training & networking activities

International shipping of infectious substances & Biorisk management

Second workshop of the human virology working group

The second workshop of the human virology network of laboratories entitled "International Shipping of Infectious Substances & Biorisk Management" took place in Casablanca (Morocco), from the 24th to the 28th October 2016.

The objective of this workshop was to train the participants for the international shipping of infectious substances, to develop capacity building in biorisk management and to enhance exchanges within the human virology and the medical entomology networks.


Protocols, SOPs, lectures and training material used during the workshop are available for download in the partner area of the MediLabSecure Website

Regional Meeting & Technical Workshop on Public Health

73 participants have gathered in Belgrade (Serbia)

The first Regional Meeting and second Technical Workshop on Public Health of the MediLabSecure project was held in Belgrade on November 15-17, 2016.

This event was the occasion to enhance interactions and collaborations among the laboratories and the public health institutions involved in the project, that belong to the eleven countries of the Balkan and Black Sea regions.

This regional and multi-disciplinary meeting was focused on Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) that addressed clinical, entomological, epidemiological, diagnostic as well as human and animal health aspects of CCHF.

A technical workshop on public health on CCHF rapid risk assessment was also held on this occasion, in collaboration with experts from ECDC.

Moreover, other topics were covered such as a Zika virus update, a session on entomology, including a live demonstration of mosquito traps, and a theoretical and practical session on biorisk management was also carried out.

Display of the travelling exhibition "Vectors & Diseases" in Serbian language

We would like to warmly thank all speakers for their very kind collaboration and for the time they took on their busy schedules to attend the meeting and share their expertise with all of us. We sincerely hope to be able to count them among us in future events of the MediLabSecure community.

Lectures are already available in the members' area of the website.

Want to see how it was like? take a look at some snapshots and a video of the meeting! 

External Quality Assessments
As a follow-up to workshops and training sessions, External Quality Assessments (EQAs) have been organized by the different working groups, involving most of the MediLabSecure network laboratories.
 
To know more about these, please visit the dedicated section of the website.
As a follow-up to workshops, EQAs are organized within the animal virology and human virology laboratories of the MediLabSecure network with the aim to assess the ability to detect infections.
Mosquitoes identification: A set of adults and larvae to identify at both genus and species levels.
Integrated surveillance

MeSA study

The MediLabSecure Situation Analysis on integrated surveillance of arboviruses in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Region (MeSA Study) is being carried out by the MediLabSecure Public Health Working Group.

The MESA Study is a qualitative situational analysis involving human, animal and entomology sectors of vector borne disease surveillance in three countries of the MediLabSecure network : Serbia, Tunisia and Georgia.

The main objective of the Study is to describe how the collection, analysis and dissemination/exchange of information is organized within and between human, animal and entomological surveillance of arboviruses with the final aim of contributing to the integration of laboratory/clinical human, animal and entomological surveillance of arboviruses in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region and encourage inter-sectoral collaboration

The study visit in Serbia took place on July 5-7, 2016, in Tunisia on October 11-13, 2016, and in Georgia on December 13-15, 2016.

Lessons learned, success stories and main challenges in establishing a functional inter-sectoral collaboration and integration of surveillance in these three countries will be discussed in a Strategic Document to be shared with MediLabSecure Partners and other interested Institutions.

Pictures & Videos
To see some pictures and videos of the activities carried out in the Network in pictures, please visit our new Flickr page or our dedicated new page on the website.
Agenda
Save the date!

A second Regional Meeting & Technical Workshop on Public Health involving representatives from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon will be kindly hosted by the Institut Pasteur In Tunis, on July 4-6, 2017.

It will focus mainly on
Rift Valley fever
and will include a special session on medical and veterinary entomology.

Looking forward to meet you there!

📡  On our radar 🗓


Medical Entomology Online Course
Insect vectors and transmission of pathogens 

February 6, 2017

Enrol now, it's free!

The MOOC Medical entomology focuses on the insects and arthropods that impact human health as well as the associated diseases, such as malaria, dengue, Zika, Lyme borreliosis, Chagas disease… The countries of the intertropical zone are primarily concerned by these vector-borne diseases, but temperate zones become more and more concerned because of the recent introduction of vectorial diseases and spread of invasive vector species.

Understanding the relationships between vectors, pathogens and vertebrates is fundamental in the study of vector-borne diseases. Consequently, this MOOC will focus on mosquitoes, other hematophagous insects and ticks, arbovirosis and parasitic diseases, like new approaches for a better control.

Let's stay connected
Don't miss any MediLabSecure updates!



Follow us on twitter to get the latest news on research and public health topics related to MediLabSecure activities, as well as live tweets of our events.

 
Missed earlier newsletter editions?
No worries! read them here.
Newsletter #1
September 2015
Newsletter #2
June 2016
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Are you organizing, participating to, or have heard of a national or international event that might interest the MediLabSecure community?

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MediLabSecure (Project 37) is funded by the European Commission's Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) through the "Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace"
Contract number: IFS/2013/330 961






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