European Region

EPIET: European Programs Intervention Epidemiology Training website

The European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) provides training and practical experience in intervention epidemiology at the national centers for surveillance and control of communicable diseases in teh European Union (EU).  The programme is aimed at EU medical practitioners, public-health nurses, microbiologists, veterinarians and other health professionals with previous experience in Public Health and a keen interest in epidemiology.
 
The primary objective of the EPIET programme is to provide state-of-the-art training in field epidemiology enabling its fellows to apply epidemiology methods to a wide range of public health problems in Europe.  The main emphasis of the programme is on learning-by-doing activities.
 
The programme is hosted at the European Centre for Disease and Prevention and Control in Stockholm, Sweden.
 

Activities From the Field - European Region
 

by Dr. Luca Busani
 
Within TEPHINET’s European region, which extends to the central Asian republics, the first European nation to develop a field epidemiology training program was Spain in 1994. Germany followed suit in 1996, as did Italy in 2001. A regional field epidemiology training program was begun in the year 2000, for the central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
 
Approximately 25 trainees are expected to graduate from these programs in 2005.
 
TEPHINET’s European programs within Spain’s Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Germany’s Robert Koch Institut, and Italy’s Istituto Superiore di Sanità, participate in the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), which began in 1994.
 
Program trainees have served on teams that have responded to outbreaks, where the interventions have thwarted epidemics. Improvements in policies and practices are adopted as a direct result of recommendations following these interventions, to prevent recurrence. Recent examples include recommendations which were made as a result of the following investigations:
  • Trainees of Germany’s Trainingsprogramm in Angewandter Infektionsepidemiologie conducted an investigation of an outbreak of furunculosis due to lukS-lukF positive Staph aureus in a small village in Germany (2002 – 2004)
  • Trainees of Spain’s Programa de Epidemiologià Aplicada de Campo undertook an investigation of an outbreak of rubella among Latin American immigrants in Madrid (2002-03)
  • Trainees of the central Asian regional FETP investigated a cluster of HIV infection in a TB hospital, Almaty, Kazakhstan (2003)
Research and investigations conducted by FETP trainees contribute to the general understanding of the epidemiology of certain diseases and conditions, methods of combating epidemics and so forth. Recent examples include knowledge gained from the following studies and investigations:
  • Trainees of Italy’s Programma di Formazione in Epidemiologia Applicata
    • Conducted an investigation of an outbreak of clostridium botulism Type B associated with home-preserved olives in salt water, Molise, Italy (2004)
    • Performed a study of health priorities for the Calabria region, Italy (undated)
       
  • Trainees of the central Asian regional FETP
    • Undertook an investigation of an outbreak of botulism associated with home-canned tomatoes and cucumber, Kasansai, Uzbekistan (2004)
    • Responded to a measles outbreak among adult local company workers, Atyrau, Kazakhstan (2003)
    • Assessed progress towards TB control and determinants of treatment outcomes Kazakhstan
    • Studied the risk factors for brucellosis in Leylek & Kadamjay districts, Kyrgystan, (2003)
       
  • Trainees of Germany’s Trainingsprogramm in Angewandter Infektionsepidemiologie conducted an investigation of a large point-source outbreak of Q fever in Soest, Germany (2003)
     
  • Trainees of Spain’s Programa de Epidemiologià Aplicada de Campo undertook an investigation of typhoid & paratyphoid fever in Galicia, Spain, (1993 – 2002)
Program trainees have contributed a great deal to the improvement of surveillance systems within their countries. Recent examples include improvements resulting from the following studies and investigations:
  • Trainees of Spain’s Programa de Epidemiologià Aplicada de Campo undertook an evaluation of the surveillance system
    • for meningococcal disease in the Health District 7 of the Autonomous Community of Madrid, Spain, 2000 – 2003
    • for gonococcal infection in the Autonomous Community of Madrid (2001 – 2003)
       
  • Trainees of Italy’s Programma di Formazione in Epidemiologia Applicata conducted a study of the results of an evaluation of the pediatric sentinel surveillance system in Calbria and a survey among participating pediatricians
 
Dr. Luca Busani

 

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