2025 Symposium on Diagnostic and surveillance of infectious diseases

Last updated on 11-12-2024 by Cassandre Dugailliez

Thu, 22/05/2025 - 09:00 to 16:00

Event type:

symposium

Spoken language(s):

English

Audience:

health professionals, scientists, specialist in clinical biology, university staff

Description

Organised by Sciensano, under the auspices of the Belgian Public Health Association (BAPH)

Sciensano organises each year a scientific seminar about “Diagnostic and surveillance of infectious diseases”.

The seminar provides an up-to-date overview of various topics concerning infectious diseases such as surveillance, prevention, treatment and management of epidemics, at national and international level. It is aimed at any healthcare provider with an interest in infectious diseases: microbiologists, infectious disease specialists, hygienists, laboratory technicians, epidemiologists, public health professionnals…

Registration

You can take part in the event on site (300 places available).

Registration opens on 15 February 2025.

Program

08:30 Registration with walking breakfast & visit of stands

Session 1 | Chairs: C. Meex (ULiège) & H. Theeten (Department Zorg)

09:00 Welcome address

09:05 Invasive bacterial infections: surveillance before and after covid | L. Cuypers, UZLeuven

09:30 Vaccine hesitancy: presentation of Belgian data | CONFIVAX team, UAntwerp

09:55 Mpox: evolution of the situation in 2024-2025 | L. Liesenborghs, ITM

10:25 Pertussis: update on microbiological and epidemiological situation and maternal vaccination | H. Martini, UZ Brussels & I. Desombere, Sciensano

10:50-11:20 Coffee break & visit of stands

Session 2 | Chairs: M. Mori (Sciensano) & E. Padalko (UGent)

11:20 Bird Flu virus in humans and animals: update of the situation | A. Parijs, Sciensano

11:45 Air pollution in Europe and its impact on infectious diseases | O. Vandenberg, ULB

12:10 Air sampling for surveillance of respiratory pathogens | C. Geenen, UZ Leuven

12:30-14:00 Lunch and poster session

Session 3 | Chairs: G. Zorzi (UCLouvain) & W. Mattheus (Sciensano)

14:00 Best poster presentation

14:10 Real place of highly multiplex PCR for gastro-intestinal pathogens | M. A. Argudin, UCLouvain

14:35 Emerging threats of vector-borne diseases in Europe and worldwide, what is the risk for Belgium | E. Bottieau, ITM

15:05 Respiratory syncytial virus: Preliminary analysis on the impact of nirsevimab | S. Blumental, ULB & L. De Mot, Sciensano

15:35 Hot topic

15:45 Closing address and end of seminar

Call for abstracts

A call is open for submission of abstracts for a poster presentation during the seminar.

Abstracts should be written in English and comply to the following indications:

Authorship: First name(s) initial(s), Last name, Institution, Town and Country (no title nor degree)
Content: Background/Aims – Methods – Results – Conclusion (max. 2,000 characters)
Keywords (5)
No figure, graph or table
No reference
Abbreviations may be used if standard or if spelled out and defined at the first use.

All posters should be in portrait format A0.

Abstracts for a poster presentation can be submitted via https://surveys.sciensano.be/index.php/713357?lang=en. The deadline for abstract submission is Friday, 14th of March 2025. Abstracts for posters recently presented at a national or international conference are welcome for submission.

Around 30 abstracts will be selected for a poster presentation. Therefore, the organising committee reserves the right to reject some posters if the number of applications exceeds the maximum number of posters or if the content is deemed inappropriate.

A special area will be set aside for the display of posters during coffee breaks and lunch. The abstract ranked the highest by the scientific committee will be selected for a short oral presentation in the afternoon session (see programme).