1. Options for the Control of Influenza, one of the largest and
most comprehensive international meetings on Influenza, 
Hong Kong, September 3rd - 7th, 2010.

For a full agenda and registration 
www.controlinfluenza.com 

2. 12th Western Pacific Congress on Chemotherapy
and Infectious Diseases
2nd - 5th December 2010, Singapore

Program details http://www.wpccid2010.org/program.html
Abstract information http://www.wpccid2010.org/abstracts.html

Deadline for Exhibition Application:
30th June 2010
Deadline for Submission of Abstracts:
31st July 2010
Deadline for Early Bird Registration:
31st August 2010 

For more information, please contact:
Congress Secretariat
Medicomms Asia (S) Pte Ltd
27 Foch Road
#02-08 Hoa Nam Building
Singapore 209264
Tel: (65) 6293-8220
Fax: (650 6293-8230
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Manuscript Submission to Influenza Research and Treatment Journal

Influenza Research and Treatment is a peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original research articles, review articles, case reports, and clinical studies related to all aspects of influenza (http://www.hindawi.com/journals/irt/). As an open access journal, all published articles are made freely available online without a subscription, and authors retain the copyright of their work.

One of its journal components is the Focus Issue, which deal with selected topics of high current interest falling within the scope of the journal in which they are published.  The upcoming Focus Issue will be on Avian Influenza Virus, to be published in "Influenza Research and Treatment" in February 2011.

The submission deadline for this Focus Issue is August 15th, 2010. 
It is open to both original research articles as well as review articles.
For more information on the journal’s policies and submission guidelines, please go to http://www.hindawi.com/journals/irt/guidelines.html

SEA034 Site Initiation Training Launched in Vietnam

The MSD® POC Influenza Test is a new device designed to diagnose different strains of influenza with improved precision and more quickly compared to the standard diagnostic tools such as PCR and RT-PCR. 

The SEA034 study—Clinical Validation of the Point-Of-Care (POC) MSD® Influenza Test in Asia conducted in Network sites in Vietnam will verify the accuracy and usefulness of the POC Test especially in the context of the current influenza pandemic. 

Four Network partner sites in Vietnam: National Hospital of Tropical Diseases (Hanoi); Hospital of Tropical Diseases;Children’s Hospital No 1 and Children’s Hospital No 2, all three in Ho Chi Minh City,  participated in a Site Initiation Training for the SEA034 Study on January 25, 2010 in HCMC.

SEA008 Patient Enrollment Begins in Indonesia

Network partner sites kicked off Network Study SEA008,
Respiratory Function and Radiological
Changes in Lung Structure in Indonesian Patients Who Survive
Highly Pathogenic Influenza A/H5N1 and severe swine origin H1N1
—a 3 years prospective study by conducting its first patient enrollment
on December 15, 2009. 

SEA008 study focuses on assessing the cardiac and respiratory function
of Indonesians who survived Influenza A H5N1 and H1N1 over three years period.

The study’s target population will involve 30 H5N1 patients and 30 H1N1 patients across
the countries through collaboration of Persahabatan Hospital, Sulianti Saroso Hospital,
Hasan Sadikin Hospital and supporting laboratory of the National Institute
of Health Research and Development, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Up to mid-December 2009, 27 H5N1 patients and 24 H1N1 patients
have been identified.
 

H1N1 rRT-PCR Diagnostics Training in Vietnam  

Heiman Wertheim (SEAICRN, far right) and Thanh Tran Tan (HTD and SEAICRN, next to Heiman) were invited by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology to provide training in new H1N1 rRT-PCR diagnostics for four reference laboratories in Vietnam.

This training took place in Nha Trang on the 2nd and 3rd of June 2009 and attended by 15 participants. The same week the training took place the first cases of new H1N1 were diagnosed in Vietnam.

The training was very well received and there were good discussions on trouble shooting. "We would like to have more of your session on trouble shooting," one participant commented. The training was sponsored by WHO and CDC-USA.