01 September 2011

12th DENGUE COURSE: 8-19 Aug.,2011. HAVANA

Under the auspices of
'Pedro Kourí' Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK)
Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cuba (MINSAP)
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
 
WHO Special Program for Research and Training  in Tropical Diseases (TDR)
World Health Organization (WHO)

A global pandemic of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne viral disease, started during World War II, intensifying during the 70’s. Since then, the prevalence of dengue fever as well as the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS) has increased exponentially, with approximately 2.5 billion people at risk, about 50 million cases and 250-500 000 severe cases occur annually. At present, dengue is reported in Southeast Asia, the Western Pacific, and in the American and the Mediterranean regions. In the last years, an increased number of epidemics are being reported in Africa.
In this context, the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for the Study of Dengue and its Vector of the ‘Pedro Kourí’’ Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK), Havana, Cuba, together with the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) organize, since 1987, their biannual International Dengue Course.
This 12th edition of the Course, covering 24 years (1987-2011) of work, will allow to strengthening capacities in dengue control and prevention, taking into account the most current and advanced knowledge and experiences.  

The Course’s objective is that participants -physicians, virologists, immunologists, sociologists, epidemiologists, entomologists, and health managers, among others interested in this field, along with many professors from several prestigious national and international institutions, may have the opportunity to debate on the most relevant and updated aspects of this disease and its control.

Through theoretical and practical sessions, the main aspects related to dengue will be covered: dengue epidemiology, clinical management, diagnosis, virology and immunology, vector control, environmental risk factors and community participation. Important aspects to be discussed are trends of dengue at global level, impact of climate change, new dengue clinical classification, opportunities for diagnosis, impact of virus diversity, immunogenetics, complexity of dengue immunity and pathogenesis, dengue vaccines, new highlights and challenges, integrated surveillance and control, difficulties, options, challenges, economic burden, new options for control, insecticide resistance, the environment, health systems and dengue, among others. Within the framework of the course, the new global initiatives for dengue and the experiences of several countries and geographical regions will be showed.  
In the first week, general lectures as well as round tables and symposia on the topics of clinic, emergency response, diagnostic, pathogenesis, vaccines, antiviral drugs, integrated control and chikungunya and other emergent arboviruses are also scheduled. In addition several expert meetings will be organized.
General topics to be covered
  • Dengue, current epidemiological situation.
  • Global initiatives
  • Integrated dengue surveillance
  • Viral genome and structure
  • Viral replication.
  • Clinical picture and pathology. Clinical management
  • WHO dengue clinical classification.
  • PAHO/WHO Dengue Guidelines for clinical management
  • Dengue diagnostic and laboratory surveillance
  • Immune response to dengue. Protection or pathogenesis?
  • Antibody dependent enhancement (ADE).
  • Genetic host susceptibility to dengue illness
  • Pathogenesis and physiopathology  
  • Animal models for dengue study
  • Dengue vaccine candidates. Vaccination challenges
  • Drugs for dengue treatment
  • Ecology of Aedes aegypti  
  • Vector dynamic for dengue transmission
  • Entomological surveillance of Aedes aegyti.
  • Chemical and biological vector control methods.
  • Mechanisms of Insecticide Resistance  
  • Social aspects in dengue
  • Mathematical models for dengue transmission study
  • Integral Strategy (EGI) for dengue prevention and control
  • Ecobiosystem approach for dengue control and prevention
  • The community role in dengue control.  
  • Cost/effectivity of dengue control activities
  • Emergency management for outbreak control
  • Cuban experience: surveillance and control
  • Environment, climate change and dengue
  • Chikungunya and other emergent arboviruses
     

The Course is structured in two sections: theoretical and practical. The theoretical section will be conducted during the first week and the practical section during the second week.
In the theoretical section, general lectures, round tables and symposia have been scheduled.
In the practical section, participants will gather in several groups, according to their interests: clinical care, entomology, community participation, virology and epidemiology. 
Participants will have opportunity to present their results in a poster session scheduled in the first week. Poster characteristics: 94cm wide X 140cm high (vertical position).
 

Foreign
Olivia  Brathwaite, PAHO/WHO
Arachu Castro, Harvard University, USA
Laurant Coudeville, Sanofi Pasteur
Derek Cummings, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USALuiz Jacintho Da Silva, DVI
Delia Enria, J.A. Maiztegui Institute, Argentina
Carlos Espinal, Sanofi Pasteur
Scott B. Halstead, PDVI
Eva Harris, Berkeley University, USA

Kenji Hirayama, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan
Joachim Hombach, IVR, WHO
Olaf Horstick, German International Co-operation, GIZ
Axel Kroeger, TDR/WHO
Jean Lang, Sanofi Pasteur
Julien Lescar, Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
Audrey Lenhart, Liverpool School Tropical Medicine, UK
Linda Lloyd, San Diego, California, USARamon Martinez, PAHO/WHO
Romeo Montoya, PAHO/WHO
Amy Morrison,
University of California Davis, California, USAFernando Noriega, Sanofi Pasteur
Jorge Osorio, Wisconsin University, USA
Rosanna Peeling, London School Tropical Medicine, UK
José L. San Martín, PAHO/WHO
Siew Pheng, Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Singapore
Chanditha Hapurachchi
, Environmental Health Institute, SingaporeGavin Screaton, Imperial College, UK
David Severson, Notredame University, USA
Frederic Tangy, Institute Pasteur, France
Patrick Van Der Stuyft,
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
Veerle Vanlerberghe,
Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
Paul Young,
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Cubans
Gustavo Kourí, María G. Guzmán, Eric Martínez, Susana Vázquez, María E. Toledo, Juan Bisset, , Delfina Rosario, Maritza Pupo,
Virginia Capó, Mayling Alvarez, Rosmari Rodríguez-Roche,
Ana B. Pérez, Beatriz Sierra, Gisel García, Liset Sánchez,
Omar Fuentes, Magdalena Rodríguez, Alberto Baly,
Miriam Concepción Rojas, Ana M. Ibarra, Juan V. Cangas, 
Otto Pelaez, Angel M Alvarez
, Osvaldo Castro, among other prestigious professors and collaborators (IPK, INHEM, Ministry of Health, Cuba).

SANOFI PASTEUR in phase III of DENGUE VACCINE

Vice President, Communications Sanofi Pasteur: Alain Bernal Vice President, Media and Scientific Communications: Pascal Barollier +33 4 3737 5038 Vice President, U.S. Communications: Len Lavenda +1 570 957 0717 Sanofi Pasteur S.A. Headquarters - 2, avenue Pont Pasteur - F-69367 Lyon cedex 07 - France Sanofi Pasteur Inc. – Discovery Drive – Swiftwater, PA 18370-0187 – USA – www.sanofipasteur.com
CHANGING THE LIVES OF MILLIONS
1 LEADING DENGUE VACCINE CANDIDATE
A GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE
There is no specific treatment and vaccination is the only efficient means of fighting against dengue fever.
Sanofi Pasteur, a world leader in vaccines, has taken on the challenge of providing the first dengue vaccine for individuals living in endemic areas and developing countries as well as for those who plan to travel to those areas.
Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease caused by four types of dengue viruses, is a threat for almost half of the world’s population(1).
Dengue fever occurs mostly in tropical and subtropical countries (2) and is spreading to new parts of the globe each year. Many factors contribute to the spreading of dengue fever, including urbanization and increased travel which facilitate the dissemination and the circulation of this disease.
Source: WHO, Global Health Observatory Map Gallery, available on: http://gamapserver.who.int/mapLibrary/Files/Maps/Global_DengueTransmission_ITHRiskMap.png
Key figures(1,3)…
An Aedes Aegypti mosquito which
spreads dengue
2
60 YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOR
From early scientific discoveries ….
1944:
1944-45:
1956:
1970-1980:
isolation and identification of the 1st serotype (in Hawaii, DEN1) and 2nd serotype (in N.Guinea, DEN2) by Sabin and Schelsinger(4). first monovalent dengue vaccine, a live attenuated vaccine (LAV) DEN1, developed by Sabin and Schelsinger(4). isolation and identification of the 3rd serotype (DEN3) and 4th serotype (DEN4) by W. Hammon(5). development of a tetravalent LAV DEN1, DEN2, DEN3, DEN4, by Pr Natth Bhamarapravati at the Mahidol University (Bangkok - Thailand). At this point, data from clinical investigations conducted in Thailand showed promise for a tetravalent dengue vaccine(6).
Vice President, Communications Sanofi Pasteur: Alain Bernal Vice President, Media and Scientific Communications: Pascal Barollier +33 4 3737 5038 Vice President, U.S. Communications: Len Lavenda +1 570 957 0717 Sanofi Pasteur S.A. Headquarters - 2, avenue Pont Pasteur - F-69367 Lyon cedex 07 - France Sanofi Pasteur Inc. – Discovery Drive – Swiftwater, PA 18370-0187 – USA – www.sanofipasteur.com
2.5 billion people at risk in over 100 countries
Estimated 220 million people infected annually
2 million, mostly children, develop dengue hemorrhagic fever, a severe form of the disease