A rapid spread of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Latin America and Caribbean posed a grave concern due to coincidence frequent reports of babies born with microcephaly. Thus, on 1 February 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the clusters of cases of microcephaly and neurological disorders occurring in areas with Zika virus transmission represent a public health emergency of international concern. Thus, on February, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published the Preparedness Action Plan for the possible occurrence of ZIKV in Europe. There exists a possibility of introduction of Zika virus in Slovenia. Although there is a low probability that ZIKV will further spread in local environment, it was necessary to bring together the knowledge of experts, which have prepared the action plan in order to cope with the possible outbreak. The aim of preparedness action was to connect a network of experts from various fields who will regularly exchange key information, to set up recommendations for enhanced monitoring and action at the onset patients and to identify approaches for monitoring the occurrence and spread of non-native species of mosquito in Slovenia.
E.03 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 3686885European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) has been an influential component in the professional lives of microbiologists and infectious disease specialists and now reaches more than 35,000 members and affiliated members around the world. The society organizes the largest scientific meetings in the fields of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), which are attended by more than 11,000 participants each year. M. Poljak is the current president of the society.
D.07 Presiding over a centre/laboratory
Human papillomavirus (HPV)-related screening technologies and HPV vaccination offer enormous potential for cancer prevention, notably prevention of cervical cancer. The effectiveness of these approaches is, however, suboptimal owing to limited implementation of screening programmes and restricted indications for HPV vaccination. Trials of HPV vaccination in women aged up to 55 years have shown almost 90% protection from cervical precancer caused by HPV16/18 among HPV16/18-DNA-negative women. We propose extending routine vaccination programmes to women of up to 30 years of age (and to the 45-50-year age groups in some settings), paired with at least one HPV-screening test at age 30 years or older. Expanding the indications for HPV vaccination and much greater use of HPV testing in screening programmes has the potential to accelerate the decline in cervical cancer incidence. Such a combined protocol would represent an attractive approach for many health-care systems, in particular, countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and some more-developed parts of Africa. The role of vaccination in women aged )30 years and the optimal number of HPV-screening tests required in vaccinated women remain important research issues. Cost-effectiveness models will help determine the optimal combination of HPV vaccination and screening in public health programmes, and to estimate the effects of such approaches in different populations.
F.22 Improvement to existing health/diagnostic methods/procedures
COBISS.SI-ID: 33055449Proceedings of the annual meeting of Slovenian microbiologists and immunologists organized by Slovenian Society for Clinical Microbiology and Hospital Infections, Centre for Medical Microbiology Kranj (National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food) and University Clinic Golnik. The topic of this year’s meeting was “respiratory infections”. Several members of the research group contributed to the organization of the meeting and the preparation of the proceedings (editor, contributing authors, organizing committee and reviewers). Research group contributions represent results of several long term extensive studies of respiratory infections carried out in Slovenia and in Europe. The proceedings present a unique collection of information on respiratory infections in Slovenian language.
C.02 Editorial board of a national monograph
COBISS.SI-ID: 32947417V priročniku so opisane najpomembnejše imunološke tehnike, ki omogočajo diagnostiko imunsko pogojenih bolezni v vsakdanji klinični praksi.
B.06 Other
COBISS.SI-ID: 287193856