The 1.5 ECTS NDPIA course “Emerging viral diseases – preparing for the unknown” will be provided by the Dept. of Medicine in Huddinge (Karolinska Institutet/Karolinska University Hospital) 4-6 October 2017, and participants will learn about:

– How to prepare for, work during, and investigate, an outbreak
– Ethical and practical issues regarding research and testing of treatments/vaccines
    during ongoing outbreaks
– Biosafety and biosecurity issues
– The “One Health” perspective, including the natural origin of the viruses
– Emerging viral diseases and the viruses that cause them, focusing on pathogenesis
    and how the viruses affect infected cells and the immune responses.

The course will be announced at www.ndpia.se mid-August with a registration deadline of 10 September.

Contact person with respect to the course content: Jonas Klingström (jonas.klingstrom@ki.se)

Emerging viral diseases are viral diseases whose incidence has increased over the last decades or those which threaten to increase in the near future. These diseases are often associated with severe symptoms and high case fatality rates, and can impact the health care system and society at large. An example of this is the recent Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa that had a strong effect on the affected countries and the whole world.

Emerging viral diseases are often caused by zoonotic viruses that spread to humans via natural hosts or vectors. It is not well understood how these viruses cause disease in humans and specific treatments and vaccines are therefore often lacking. To be able to prepare for tomorrow’s possible outbreaks, increased knowledge of emerging viral diseases, the viruses that cause them, and the mechanisms behind their pathogenesis in humans is much needed.