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CONTENTS
31st Annual Meeting of the ESPID
Evidence-based Management for CAP
EDITORIAL BOARD
Co-Editors: Delane Shingadia and Irja Lutsar
Board Members
David Burgner (Melbourne, Australia)
Luisa Galli (Rome, Italy)
Christiana Nascimento-Carvalho
(Bahia, Brazil)
Ville Peltola (Turku, Finland)
Nicol Ritz (Basel, Switzerland)
Ira Shah (Mumbai, India)
Matthew Snape (Oxford, UK)
George Syrogiannopoulos
(Larissa, Greece)
Tobias Tenenbaum (Mannhein, Germany)
Marc Terbruegge (Southampton, UK)
Marceline van Furth (Amsterdam,
The Netherlands)
Anne Vergison (Brussels, Belgium)
31st Annual Meeting of the European Society for Pediatric
Infectious Diseases in Milan, Italy
Susanna Esposito, MD
T
he 31st Annual Meeting of the European
Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases
(ESPID), which was held in Milan, Italy,
from 28 May to 1 June, 2013, was attended
by more than 3500 participants from all over
the world, a number that highlights ESPID’s
continuing growth and its ability to attract
clinicians and researchers working in a wide
range of specialist fields.
The main theme of the meeting—
future perspectives in pediatric infectious
diseases—was developed in a comprehensive series of symposia, keynote lectures,
educational workshops and meet-the-expert
sessions covering the entire field of pediatric infection-related diseases and involving
a large number of internationally renowned
experts, all of which gave the attendees an
unrivalled opportunity to exchange information and experiences.
The first 2 days consisted of satellite
symposia mainly dedicated to vaccine preventable diseases and included detailed discussions about vaccines against influenza,
pneumococcal infection, meningococcal
From the Pediatric Clinic 1, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli
Studi di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda
Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
The authors received research grants from AstraZeneca, Crucell, GSK, Novartis and Pfizer.
Address for correspondence: Susanna Esposito, MD,
Pediatric Clinic 1, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di
Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale
Maggiore Policlinico, Via Commenda 9, 20122
Milano, Italy. E-mail: [email protected].
Copyright © 2013 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
ISSN: 0891-3668/13/3211-1279
DOI: 10.1097/INF.0b013e3182a4dd14
disease, pertussis, human papillomavirus,
rotavirus and hepatitis B. The meeting then
formally started with an opening ceremony
consisting of 2 excellent lectures concerning vaccines aimed at preventing respiratory
illnesses given by Adam Finn (University
of Bristol, United Kingdom) and Kathryn
Edwards (University of Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN), a description of the society’s mission by ESPID’s President Ronald de Groot,
welcoming addresses by myself (as Chairperson of the meeting) and representatives
of local authorities, and a performance by a
choir of children with hearing disabilities.
The following days included 2 plenary
sessions: 1 on viral respiratory infections,
during which Albert Osterhaus (Rotterdam,
The Netherlands) made a scintillating presentation of emerging viruses with a detailed
update on new influenza viruses and the
new coronaviruses; the other concerning
the debate on how to manage communityacquired pneumonia, during which David
Greenberg (Beer-Sheva, Israel) and myself
(Milan, Italy) presented the recently published ESPID consensus document.1 Other
concomitant sessions included presentations
on subjects including when and how to use
antimicrobials, tuberculosis, recurrent respiratory tract infections, the role of genetics
in pediatric infectious diseases, the complications of common infections, respiratory
infections in children with chronic diseases,
controversies in pediatric infectious diseases,
unresolved issues concerning anti-infective
therapies and probiotics.
Two further sessions were dedicated to vaccines, one of which was really
excellent with a presentation by Nicola
Principi (Milan, Italy) on future vaccines,
one by Andrew Pollard (Oxford, United
The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal • Volume 32, Number 11, November 2013
Kingdom) on the correlates of protection
and the role of cell-mediated immunity
and one by Timo Vesikari (Tampere, Finland) on the safety issues related to the use
of adjuvants.
The joint ESPID/World Health Organization Symposium on infectious diseases
in Europe was highly successful. It placed
particular emphasis on the eradication of
measles and rubella,2 and the importance
of communicating with families effectively
in order to dispel some still common misconceptions about vaccinations (such as the
association between measles and autism) and
increase vaccination coverage everywhere. A
large number of participants also attended the
session based on leading papers concerning
pediatric infectious diseases and the interactive case sessions aimed at providing information that is useful in everyday clinical
practice.
Other highlights of the scientific
program included 12 meet-the-expert sessions covering the connections between
allergies and respiratory infection, how to
manage pediatric meningitis, methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, when to
use antifungal prophylaxis in neonates and
children, urinary tract infections, advances
in pediatric HIV, the approach to febrile
neutropenia, diagnostic advances, neonatal
infections, nutrition and infections, malaria
and hepatitis.
As is traditional during ESPID meetings, the recipients of the prestigious Bill
Marshall Award, the 2-year fellowship and
Young Investigator awards were announced.
The 2013 Bill Marshall Awardee was Andrew
Pollard, a renowned expert in pediatric infectious diseases and immunology, Professor
of Paediatric Infection and Immunity at the
www.pidj.com | 1279
Esposito
University of Oxford and Director of the
Oxford Vaccine Group. His current far-reaching research activities include clinical trials
of new and improved vaccines for children,
the surveillance of invasive bacterial diseases
in children, studies of cellular and humoral
immune responses to glycoconjugate and
typhoid vaccines and the development of a
serogroup B meningococcal vaccine. He has
published over 200 peer-reviewed articles,
many of them in leading journals. Over the
last 10 years, he has received a large number
of research grants, registered 5 patents and
been a wonderful mentor and tutor for many
PhD and medical students. He started the
postgraduate course on Infection and Immunity in Children, one of the best in its field in
the world, and the Postgraduate Diploma in
Paediatric Infectious Disease. His fascinating
lecture entitled “215 years of vaccination:
job done?” highlighted once again the importance of vaccines for reducing childhood
mortality and morbidity.
The 2013 ESPID Fellowships allowed
Santtu Heinonen (Turku, Finland) to undergo
postdoctoral training in the immunology of
respiratory syncytial virus infection at the
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH, under the supervision of Octavio
Ramilo and Asuncion Mejias, whereas Sara
Bernhard-Stirnemann (Bern, Switzerland)
worked as a research fellow at the University
of Lund, Sweden, studying the host–pathogen
interactions of the respiratory tract pathogen
Moraxella catarrhalis.
Previous recipients of ESPID Fellowships presented their results during the
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The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal • Volume 32, Number 11, November 2013
Best of ESPID session: Rianne Oostenbrink
(winner in 2010), Johannes Trück (winner in
2009) and Christine Jones (winner in 2007).
The 2013 Young Investigator Awards were
given to Ruud Gerard Nijman (Rotterdam,
The Netherlands) for clinical research into
diagnostic strategies for febrile children at
risk of serious bacterial infections and Stefanie Henriet (Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
for basic research into invasive fungal infections in patients with chronic granulomatous
disease.
The 31st ESPID Meeting also provided an opportunity to introduce new ways
of presenting original data. The 42 oral presentations made during the main sessions were
selected from more than 1200 submitted
abstracts. There were a number of “E-poster”
sessions during which researchers presented
their data orally and discussed them with the
attendees, and E-posters were also available
in electronic form on large screens located in
the poster area. Moreover, some of the traditional posters were discussed during poster
walks organized on the basis of specific areas
of interest, and other posters were available
for personal viewing.
Two events were dedicated to young
trainees in pediatric infectious diseases: the
Walter Marget Workshop, during which the
management of pediatric infectious diseases
was discussed and instruments for coping
with pediatric infectious disease-related problems were provided, and the 5th Research
Masterclass, a 1-day seminar for European
pediatric infectious disease research groups at
which young researchers presented their latest
studies and were able to discuss their findings
with other junior colleagues and European
research group leaders. During the Research
Masterclass, some of the young trainees also
participated in chairing the scientific sessions.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to network with colleagues from different backgrounds and develop new research
ideas as well as innovative ways of organizing laboratory and clinical processes.
I believe that the Milan meeting contributed to developing the content and structure of ESPID Annual Meetings further and
hope it strengthened the Society’s position and
increased its visibility in Europe and beyond.
I would like to thank everyone involved (the
President and Board, the speakers, contributors and participants and the ESPID Secretariat) for ensuring that the meeting met the
overall expectations of the attendees and the
high standards of the Society.
Next year’s meeting will be held in
Dublin, Ireland, from 6 to 10 May and is
being organized by Professor Karina Butler, an active ESPID member with inspiring
ideas who I am sure will give us an excellent opportunity to see each other again (and
many new colleagues) and learn even more.
REFERENCES
1. Esposito S, Cohen R, Domingo JD, et al. Antibiotic
therapy for pediatric community-acquired pneumonia: do we know when, what and for how long
to treat? Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2012;31:e78–e85.
2. Surveillance Guidelines for Measles, Rubella
and Congenital Rubella Syndrome in the WHO
European Region. Geneva, Switzerland: World
Health Organization; 2012.
© 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins