What will you be speaking about?

SHAPING OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

What are the objectives of your lecture?

Suggested learning objectives are for attendees to understand better why and how immune systems in children vary and how immune systems change during the course of early life, and the factors that drive this development and how this affects infectious disease susceptibility. 

Why is this topic important?

This topic is important because infectious diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality in young children, especially those born preterm, and the reasons for this are poorly understood.

What are the recommended readings ahead of your session?

Olin et a, Cell, 2018, and Pou et al, Nature Medicine, 2019

What will you be speaking about?

Session Type: Walter Marget Educational Workshop (WMW)  
Lecture Subject: Tropical infections in children, particularly focussing on the returning traveller

What are the objectives of your lecture?

To recognize, work-up and manage children returning from the tropics in a systematic way.

Why is this topic important?

Increased international travel has resulted in significant numbers of travellers that develop a febrile illness after their return from the tropics.

What are the recommended readings ahead of your session?

Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 21, Issue 6, 1 November 2014, Pages 377–383, https://doi.org/10.1111/jtm.12155
https://learning.bmj.com/learning/module-intro/.html?moduleId=10061626

What will you be speaking about?

CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

What are the objectives of your lecture?

My talk will go into the relationship between human health, animal health and environmental health. We pay attention to new viral diseases emerging from the animal world when we are confronted with outbreaks, but that reactive model of studying health threats is by default too late. I will present some recent examples of emerging diseases, discuss drivers of emergence, and explore approaches that may improve our preparedness.  

Why is this topic important?

The world is changing and with that the viral diseases that we are confronted with will change. Recent examples are the outbreaks of Ebola and Lassa in West Africa, Zika in the Americas, cases of monkeypox in travellers, MERS coronavirus in the Arabian peninsula. While cases of such emerging diseases are rare, the impact of outbreaks can be devastating. With our globally connected world, preparing for emerging health threats has become one of the 10 strategic goals of the World Health Organisation. 

What are the recommended readings ahead of your session?

https://www.who.int/emergencies/ten-threats-to-global-health-in-2019

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28846489

https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.eur.idm.oclc.org/pubmed/31695207

What will you be speaking about?

RSV VACCINE DEVELOPMENT: ALMOST THERE?

What are the objectives of your lecture?

• Participants will be able to define the RSV vaccine landscape
• Participants will be able to compare the different vaccine modalities being pursued

Why is this topic important?

RSV is a leading cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis in children less than one year of age and disease severity is particularly high in premature infants. RSV infections are also associated with morbidity and mortality in the elderly. The past five years has seen tremendous progress in RSV vaccine development, and there is hope that an efficacious vaccine may be approved in the coming years. The vaccine landscape is complex and a review of the current state-of-the-art may prove beneficial.

What are the recommended readings ahead of your session?

Lancet Infect Dis. 2018 Oct;18(10):e295-e311.

Expert Rev Vaccines. 2019 Oct;18(10):1053-1067. doi: 10.1080/14760584.2019.1675520.

F1000Res. 2019 May 2;8. pii: F1000 Faculty Rev-610. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.18749.1.

What will you be speaking about?

“Approach to the child with abnormal infection and immunodysregulation”

What are the objectives of your lecture?

1. Learn some tricks how to identify those patients with infections that are “weird”
2. Learn what clinical symptoms and lab results might point to an immune dysregulation syndrome.

Why is this topic important?

The field of primary immunodeficiencies is expanding with an enormous velocity. New diseases are discovered almost on a monthly basis and many are related to recurrent/unusual infections or may mimic manifestations often seen in patients with infections. The discovery of the responsible mechanisms allows us to use directed treatment approaches. In addition drugs targeting immune checkpoints are increasingly prescribed and this results in secondary immunodeficiencies that will requiere physicians with an understanding of the underlying mechanisms.

What are the recommended readings ahead of your session?

– Schmidt RE, Grimbacher B, Witte T. Autoimmunity and primary immunodeficiency: two sides of the same coin? Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2017 Dec 19;14(1):7–18. 

– Walter JE, Farmer JR, Foldvari Z, Torgerson TR, Cooper MA. Mechanism-Based Strategies for the Management of Autoimmunity and Immune Dysregulation in Primary Immunodeficiencies. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2016 Nov 1;4(6):1089–100. 

– Vignesh P, Rawat A, Singh S. An Update on the Use of Immunomodulators in Primary Immunodeficiencies. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2017 Apr 1;52(2):287–303. 

– Notarangelo LD, Fleisher TA. Targeted strategies directed at the molecular defect: Toward precision medicine for select primary immunodeficiency disorders. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2017 Mar 1;139(3):715–23. 

– Leiding JW, Forbes LR. Mechanism-Based Precision Therapy for the Treatment of Primary Immunodeficiency and Primary Immunodysregulatory Diseases. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2019 Mar 1;7(3):761–73.

– Bonilla FA, Khan DA, Ballas ZK, Chinen J, Frank MM, Hsu JT, et al. Practice parameter for the diagnosis and management of primary immunodeficiency. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015;136(5):1186-1205.e78. 

– Bousfiha A, Jeddane L, Picard C, Ailal F, Bobby Gaspar H, Al-Herz W, et al. The 2017 IUIS Phenotypic Classification for Primary Immunodeficiencies. J Clin Immunol. 2018;38(1):129–43.