Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and novel influenza: back to the future - "Lessons learnt from two respiratory emergencies"
Symposium Chairs: M. C. Raviglione (Geneva, Switzerland), D. Manissero (Stockholm, Sweden)
Aims: The session-aiming at highlighting two current and emergent public health threats- will allow the audience to realise that multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) prevention is of paramount importance, and that consistent application of existing guidelines is necessary to prevent the emergence of MDR/XDR strains, given that the outcomes of these cases is still, unfortunately poor and many of them cannot be treated. The recently concluded study on management of M/XDR-TB in the European Union by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in collaboration with TBNET will be presented along with a proposal for development of standards for TB case management at EU level. The Flu Session will follow up on last year?s session in Vienna with WHO and the ECDC looking backwards to what happened in the first pandemic for 40 years, and some of the lessons that can be learnt from that and forward as to the implications for the coming influenza seasons in Europe.