International Short Course in Biostatistics - REDI centre - Singapore, November 9-13, 2009.
November 06, 2009
REDI Center, in close partnership with the International Network of Pasteur Institutes in South-East Asia and the National University of Singapore, is organizing an International Short Course in Biostatistics, November 9-13th.
This course is aimed at those particularly in the health sector who would like to acquire the necessary skills to enable them to quickly set up databases, enter collected data and perform a variety of standard statistical analyses. Through a series of lectures and hands-on sessions, this course which is divided in two modules, aims to provide participants an introduction to biostatistics as well as an insight into the whole range of functions of the EpiData and SPSS software for data management and analysis. The course participants come from Ministry of Health in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao, Singapore and Vietnam.
Please check the tentative schedule of the 2010 programme of short courses co-organized by International  Network of Pasteur Institutes-SISEA and National University of Singapore-REDI.
The course is supported in part by AFD through the SISEA project.

First GMS forum on Japanese Encephalitis/Viral Encephalitis prevention and control: achievements and orientation - October 29-30, 2009 - Hue City, Vietnam
October 30, 2009
Asian Development Bank and Institut Pasteur, through the Greater Mekong Sub-region Communicable Diseases Control and SISEA projects, respectively, have joined forces to support the “First GMS forum on Japanese Encephalitis/viral Encephalitis prevention and control: achievements and orientation”, which was held on October 29-30, 2009 in the historical city of Hue, Vietnam.

The forum was opened in the presence of representatives of the Ministries of Health of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and China. Scientists from the International Network of Pasteur Institutes, as well as from the International Vaccine Institute, Nagasaki University, National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan, REDI Centre, University of Malaya,  US-CDC, Fort Collins and WHO are also attending this important initiative that has been organized by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) in Vietnam.
The main objectives of the Forum are to review :
- the disease burden and control & prevention activities in the region;
- lessons learnt from the use of vaccines for Japanese encephalitis in the region;
- existing diagnostic tools for viral encephalitis;
- the epidemiology of other pathogens of acute encephalitis;
- current funding for the control of viral encephalitis.
The forum started with a presentation of the current situation, the limitations and challenges that Cambodia, China, Laos and Vietnam are facing to solve the public health problem caused by Viral Encephalitis in the region.  Recent advances in diagnosis techniques, vaccine development as well as possibilities of financial support to improve the situation were also on the agenda. The Forum is expected to issue a series of recommendations and agreements to foster regional cooperation among the different actors, and to set priorities for concrete initiatives aimed at easing the burden caused by Japanes Encepalitis and Viral Encephalitis in the Great Mekong Sub Region.

Experts from EU and SouthEast Asia discuss new strategies to combat diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya.
July 29, 2009
SEA-EU-NET, the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN, A*STAR) and the British High Commission Singapore co-organized an EU-South East Asia Expert Meeting on Vector Borne Diseases in Singapore (July 27-28, 2009). The two-day conference brought together scientists from the European Union and South East Asia to identify opportunities for collaboration and form consortia to bid into the upcoming calls on vector-borne diseases of the FP7 program. More than 20 scientists and experts from leading research centres, universities and hospitals in the European Union (EU) and South East Asia discussed topics such as virology, parasitology, transmission, diagnostics, and treatment and prevention strategies of vector-borne diseases at Biopolis. Over 200 scientists attended the conference.
Dr Roberto Bruzzone gave a talk entitled "A network approach to vector-borne diseases: the impact of DENFRAME and the International Network of Pasteur Institutes”. He discussed how international research networks such as DENFRAME and the International Network of Pasteur Institutes can play key roles in the management of infectious diseases world-wide and fostering innovative research.
He also presented the SISEA Program of the International Network of Pasteur Institutes — a network program and public health project supported by the French Development Agency, for the surveillance and investigation of respiratory infections and acute encephalitis syndromes.
For more information, download the press release and/or the abstracts.

Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) - Visit of SIgN by Institutes Pasteur of Asian Network, Singapore.
June 14-15, 2009
Directors of Institutes Pasteur of Asian Network visited the Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) chaired by Pr Philippe Kourilsky. After a day of scientific presentations and a general discussion, several options to promote further collaboration around the following research areas emerged:
* innate immunity
* dengue and arboviruses
* malaria
and a development of the RESPARI program with emphasis on the immune response to respiratory viruses, taking advantage of the focus on human immunology provided by SIgN.

From left to right, Dr Roberto Bruzzone (HKU-PRC), Dr Ulf Nherbass (IP Korea), Dr Paul Brey (regional advisor for the Institut Pasteur International Network in Asia), Pr Philippe Kourilsky (chairman of SIgN), Dr Vincent Deubel (IP Shanghai/CAS), Dr Jean-Louis Sarthou (IP Cambodia) and Dr Yves Charpak (director of international affairs Institut Pasteur).

From left to right, Dr Roberto Bruzzone (HKU-PRC), Dr Pul Brey (regional advisor for the Institut Pasteur International Network in Asia), Dr Vincent Deubel (IP Shanghai/CAS), Dr Jean-louis Sarthou (IP Cambodia), Dr Ulf Nherbass (IP Korea) and Dr Yves Charpak (director of international affairs Institut Pasteur)

SISEA at the XI International Symposium on Respiratory Viral Infections – February 19-22, 2009 – Bangkok, Thailand.
March 15, 2009

Dr Sirenda Vong and Simon Chu (Institut Pasteur-Cambodia) presented their work for the SISEA project in Cambodia at the XI International Symposium on Respiratory Viral Infections held in Bangkok on February 19-22, 2009. Dr Sirenda Vong had a platform presentation on ARI Impact and Surveillance in Cambodia, while Simon Chu introduced a poster entitled “H5 pseudotyped lentiviral particles: a new tool for H5N1 infection sero-diagnosis”, the result of a collaboration with HKU-Pasteur Research Centre.
Read more...

SISEA and RESPARI at the 8th Asia Pacific Congress on Medical Virology, Viral Diseases: New Challenges - New Solutions, February 26-28, 2009, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
February 26, 2009
Asia has been at the epicentre of emerging viral diseases during the last decade, with enterovirus 71, Nipah, SARS, avian flu and chikungunya being some recent examples. The 8th Asia Pacific Congress on Medical Virology, which will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Feb 26-28, 2009, will provide a forum to discuss some of these challenges. This 8th edition is organized by the Hong Kong Society for Microbiology and Infection under the auspices of The Asia Pacific Society of Medical Virology. The congress is held in the region once every three years and benefits the Asia Pacific Society for Medical Virology (APSMV) members who are mainly from developing countries since 1988. Previous meetings have been held in Singapore, Bangkok, Bali, Beijing, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi.
Pr Malik Peiris, Scientific Director of HKU-PRC is the Congress Chairman for the Organization Committee.
Dr Jean-Michel Garcia will present the Centre's work on "Pseudotyped lentiviral particles: multi-potent tool for the investigation of influenza" (Oral Presentation, Abstract #89, Viral Diagnostics, Presentation 1, Feb 27 Feb).
Dr Pei Gang Wang will present the Centre's work on "Characterization od dengue 1 viral like particle ant its intracellular trafficking" (Oral Presentation, Abstract #86, Vector Borne Diseases, Presentation 4, Feb 28 Feb).
Dr François Kien wil present the Centre's work on "Definition of the cellular interactomes of SARS-CoV and the highly pathogenic Influenza H5N1 virus: identification of human cellular regulators of viral entry, assembly and egress" (Poster, Abstract #052, Influenza & Other Respiratory Viruses, Feb 26, 2009).
Pr Vincent Deubel, Director of Institut Pasteur Shanghai - Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr Philippe Buchy, Head of molecular virology lab at Institut Pasteur Cambodia are among the invited speakers.
The scientific programme is available here. Posters from IPS on Multiplex RT-PCR diagnosis of ARI and on novel rhinovirus species can be dowloaded.

A new SISEA publication from Institut Pasteur Cambodia.
February 24, 2009
In this paper the authors report of the unexpected findings of pulmonary forms of melioidosis in the hospital-based surveillance initiated with the SISEA project. 
They conclude that "Melioidosis might prove to be a significant public health issue in Cambodia. It can therefore be anticipated that when microscopic diagnostic possibilities become more widely available, B. pseudomallei will be relatively more frequently detected as a causative agent of community-acquired infections, with diabetes as underlying predisposing factor. 
The IPC-initiated surveillance of pneumonias in Takeo Provincial Hospital will provide the first reliable information from a public hospital on how often melioidosis is the cause of infection amongst patients presenting with pulmonary infections.
The initiative of the Pasteur Institute to provide possibilities to diagnose melioidosis to the clinicians in the public hospitals in the provinces, combined with activities to make these clinicians knowledgeable about the disease, will provide further information on the existence of melioidosis in the different provinces of Cambodia.
Read more...

SISEA’S Third Steering Committee meeting
January 07, 2009
The 3rd Steering Committee meeting was hosted by the National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology (NCLE) in Vientiane (Laos) on December 17, 2008, in the presence of Dr Christophe Paquet of the AFD and of Dr Chris Oxenford of the WHO. 
All partners presented an update of the surveillance and molecular diagnostic programs, which will be available in the near future through the 2008 activity report.  The Steering Committee decided to continue consultation on a regular basis through conference call to closely monitor the program and decided to organize a workshop on encephalitis in the first half of 2009.

Strengthening Surveillance and Preparedness in the Region
June 17, 2008
A two day SISEA workshop on Epidemiology and Clinical Surveillance was held in Vientiane, Laos 12-13 June with the objective to ensure a harmonized surveillance approach among SISEA partners.
The workshop, hosted by the National Center for Epidemiology and Laboratory-NCLE was attended by more than twenty participants from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and counted with the participation of Dr Jeremy Farrar (Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) for the Scientific Advisory Board and Dr. Christopher Oxenford, from the WHO regional office in Manila.

During the meeting, hosted by Dr Phengta Vongchaphranh, Director of NCLE, SISEA’s last year’s financial and activity reports and coming plans and budget were approved. The Steering Committee members reviewed the Activity Report of 2007 and discussed the next steps towards the full implementation of a coordinated surveillance for respiratory infections and acute encephalitis. The meeting marked an important milestone in the development of SISEA as a common regional initiative to strengthen the capacity of response to epidemics in the area.
Read more…

SISEA’S Second Steering Committee meeting
June 10, 2008
SISEA’s Second Steering Committee Meeting was held on June 6th in Vientiane, Laos, chaired by Dr M Jouan, Secretary General of the IP’s Direction of International Affairs.
The meeting was attended by Dr JL Sarthou, Director of IP Cambodia, Pr V Deubel, Director of IP Shanghai, Dr P Vongchaphranh, Director of the National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology (in Lao PDR) and Pr NT Hien, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (in Hanoi, Vietnam), all members of the Steering Committee. As well it counted with the presence of Dr P Brey, Director of IP Project Office in Laos as observer and of Dr R Bruzzone, the Scientific Coordinator and Ms S Östberg, the Regional Coordinator who presented their respective reports to the Committee.

From left to right, Pr NT Hien,Dr P Brey, Dr P Vongchaphranh, Dr JL Sarthou, Ms S Östberg, Dr R Bruzzone, Pr V Deubel and Dr M Jouan.

During the meeting, hosted by Dr Phengta Vongchaphranh, Director of NCLE, SISEA’s last year’s financial and activity reports and coming plans and budget were approved. The Steering Committee members reviewed the Activity Report of 2007 and discussed the next steps towards the full implementation of a coordinated surveillance for respiratory infections and acute encephalitis. The meeting marked an important milestone in the development of SISEA as a common regional initiative to strengthen the capacity of response to epidemics in the area.

Reaching common administrative standards.
June 10, 2008
A total of nine participants from SISEA partners: IP Ho Chi Minh City, IP Nha Trang and National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Vietnam and from the National Center for Laboratory and Epidemiology in Lao PDR attended the SISEA – Management and Administrative Routines Workshop held in Nha Trang, Vietnam on 29-30 May.

During the workshop, report contents and formats as well as management routines were discussed. Common standards were reached that fulfill the donor’s and government requirements in the countries where SISEA is being implemented. All participants were greatly involved and made the event a success.

Laboratory capacity strengthened in SISEA-network: Inauguration of the Bio Safety Level 3 laboratory at Institut Pasteur of Cambodia.
May 16, 2008
Mrs. Rama YADE, French State Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, and Dr MAM Bun Heng, Cambodian State Secretary of Ministry of Health, inaugurated on April 25th a Bio Safety Level 3 laboratory at Institut Pasteur of Cambodia.


From left to right, Dr JL Sarthou, Director of Institut Pasteur Cambodia; Mrs R Yade, French State Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights; Dr R Bruzzone, CEO of HKU-Pasteur Research Centre; Dr Y Charpak, Director of the International Affairs of Institut Pasteur and Mr JF Desmazieres, Ambassador of France.
The BSL3 laboratory is composed of four modules for studying respiratory viruses, arboviruses and emerging viruses, HIV and retroviruses, mycobacteria and TB bacillus as well as an animalery A3. It represents the biggest complex of Biosafety level 3 in South-East Asia.
A major subvention from the Ministry of Health of France and a loan subscribed to AFD by Institut Pasteur of Cambodia made possible this laboratory, which cost ascends to approximately of 1 million Euros.
In a context of threat of pandemics such as avian flu, this laboratory comes to strengthen the overall capacity of SISEA network givens the improved capacity of analysis of infections diseases that it represents. Thus this new facility brings us closer to reaching SISEA's overall goal: To contribute to the improvement of the detection and handling of epidemic situations in the region.
Poster - Read more…

SISEA's Coordination Unit meets in Vientiane, Laos.
Apr 15, 2008
Dr Bruzzone (Scientific Coordinator) and Dr Cavailler (Health Coordinator) visited SISEA's Regional Coordination Office in Vientiane from the 16th to 21st of March to review the program's regional aspects. Furthermore, the other goal of the trip was to assess the implementation of the SISEA project in Laos. During the visit meetings were held with thße NCLE staff directly involved with SISEA, the CSR Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response Team of WHO and Institut de la francophonie pour la médecine tropicale among others. There were also on-site visits at the three Vientiane sentinel hospitals for the Influenza Like Illnesses (ILI) national surveillance program, where the implementation of SISEA surveillance was discussed with strongly motivated hospital staff.

SISEA activities started in Vietnam.
Mar 05, 2008

Health authorities from district and provincial levels met together in Ben Tre Province on Tuesday 4th of March for the first meeting of SISEA project as well as ACIP pneumo study in Vietnam, implemented by Institut Pasteur of Ho Chi Minh City and lead by IPHCMC’s Director, Dr. Tran Ngoc Huu. The aim of the workshop was to kick off the SISEA surveillance activities in the province and to ensure the coordination between the hospital and preventive medicine systems at the two above levels participating in the project.

HKU-Pasteur Research Centre develops novel tool to study how avian influenza enters human and animal cells.
Feb 20, 2008
HKU-PRC's press release; HKU Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine's press release; Griffith University's news.

SISEA special on-site training has started, February 2008, Institut Pasteur Cambodia.
Feb 14, 2008
According to SISEA's mission of strengthening laboratory capacity in the region, the first initiative for tailored on-site training will be undertaken by Institut Pasteur of Cambodia at the end of February.
Dr. Philippe Buchy, Head of Virology Unit at IPC, will host two colleagues from Institut Pasteur of Nha Trang to be trained during two weeks in 5 Multiplex protocols (for the detection of 18 respiratory viruses) and several PCR techniques for Influenza A sub-typing with the objective of standardizing the techniques used in the region by SISEA partners in their laboratory based surveillance.

Regional Workshop on BSL3 Biosafety, February 13-15, 2008, Institut Pasteur Cambodia.
Feb 14, 2008
A BSL3 workshop has been held at Institut Pasteur Cambodia. Through lectures, group discussion and practical training inside labs, participants have learned how to enter and exit P2 and P3 laboratories, how to manipulate pathogens and use safety equipment, how to monitor and maintain biosafety facilities, how to respond to emergencies, techniques of waste management and requirements for biosecurity.The participants of this course were from Cambodia and from the Pasteur network in Vietnam and Laos.
Read more...

Second Annual SISEA coordination meeting, December 4-6, 2007, Institut Pasteur of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Nov 27, 2007
The second SISEA coordination meeting will be held at Institut Pasteur of Ho Chi Minh City. The main agenda will include a progress report and discussion of next year's plan with a focus on the technical coordination, the difficulties encountered and the vision of the future. The meeting will count on the participation of staff from the virology, epidemiology and/or bacteriology units from all partners. M. Christophe Paquet from the Health Division of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) will also attend the meeting as part of his supervision visit in the region.
Read more...

Second Annual RESPARI meeting, November 6-7, 2007, Institut Pasteur-CAS Shanghai, China.
Nov 8, 2007
The second annual RESPARI meeting was held on Nov.6-7, 2007, hosted by Institut Pasteur of Shanghai. The meeting was focused mainly on SISEA activities, and was an in-depth follow-up workshop to the last meeting in Hong Kong. Prof. Alice Dautry, Director General of Institut Pasteur, and Dr. Yves Charpak, newly appointed Director for International Affairs of Institut Pasteur attended the reporting session of the Scientific Advisory Board and the discussion on the second day.
Read more...

SISEA at the Annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Nov 1 , 2007
Dr Juliet Bryant will present her work for the SISEA project in Laos at the annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (November 4-8, 2007).  She will report the initial results of the first laboratory-based surveillance program for detection of viral respiratory pathogens to be established in the country.
Read more…

Field Epidemiology Short Courses in Vietnam - Strategic Workshop
Oct 17, 2007
On October 11-12 2007 a Strategic Workshop on Field Epidemiology Training was held at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi, Vietnam with the objective of developing the national curriculum for short courses on Field Epidemiology in Vietnam.
This initiative was supported by SISEA-AFD's funds and counted with the technical support of AMP (Agence de Médecine Préventive) from France.
More than 20 participants contributed actively to establish a first draft of curriculum for short courses on field epidemiology in Vietnam. The workshop was attended by representatives from Ministry of Health (Administration of Preventive Medicine and Dept. of Training and Scientific Research), Centres of Preventive Medicine and Universities active on health education throughout the country, National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Tay Nguyen, Pasteur Institutes and WHO.
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First SISEA Training Course - Application of Multiplex RT-PCR in Respiratory Virus Diagnosis - Institut Pasteur Shanghai
Aug 30, 2007
Institut Pasteur of Shanghai-Chinese Academy of Sciences and Institut Pasteur of Cambodia co-organized in Shanghai (August 27-28, 2007) a technical workshop to train scientists and technical staff in the technique of Multiplex RT-PCR for the standardization and rapid diagnostic of 17 respiratory viruses. The course, which included lectures and practicals, was part of the SISEA programme and sponsored by the Agence Française de Développement.
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First RESPARI scientific meeting in Hong Kong
July 15, 2007
The first scientific workshop of the Respari program took place in HK on May 9-11, 2007. Approximately 40 scientists gathered from the participating IP centers of the Pacific-Asia region. The programme included presentations on the different work packages, as well as lectures from a panel of internationally invited speakers.
This meeting allowed the Scientific Advisory Board to meet for the first time and evaluate the activities of the RESPARI Network. The SAB praised the quality of the presentations and of the external partners, who are world class in their area of expertise.
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First Annual SISEA coordination meeting, February 5-7, 2007, Institut Pasteur of Nha Trang, Vietnam.
July 15, 2007
The first SISEA coordination meeting took place at Institut Pasteur of Nha Trang.It focused on each institutes scientific project and the activities planned within this propose to be financed by SISEA as a networking project. Each Director or their appointee presented their Institution's plans within SISEA  to the rest of the partners.
Read more...