Biosafety & Biosecurity Symposium in the Western Balkans

Detecting viruses which cause high consequence infectious diseases: A key step in ensuring biosafety and biosecurity

The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) & partners have held a symposium and diagnostic training in Skopje/ North Macedonia, with a particular focus on the detection of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever viruses (CCHFV) & Hantaan viruses (HTNV).

It was the first symposium with all partners of the Auswärtige Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany funded by the German Biosecurity Programme projects in the Western Balkans. The event was coordinated by PD Dr Petra Emmerich, implemented together with colleagues from BNITM (Ronald Von Possel, Marilyn Schmidt, Dániel Cadar, Dewi Ismajani (Jani) Puradiredja), hosted by the Institute of Public Health of North Macedonia in Skopje.

31 health professionals from Albania (Albania Institute of Public Health), Kosovo (National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo; Clinic of Infectious Diseases, University Clinical Center of Kosovo, QKUK; Faculty of Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine, University of Prishtina), North Macedonia (Institute of Public Health of North Macedonia; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University ,,Kiril i Metodij“; University Clinic of Infectious Diseases - Clinical Center "Mother Teresa”), & Serbia (Institute of Virology, Vaccines and Sera “Torlak”), as well as a representative of the German Embassy came together to exchange experiences & receive training.

Following this success, further collaborative trainings are planned together with all partners in the Western Balkans.