title: Prioritization of High Consequence Viruses to Improve European Laboratory Preparedness for Cross-Border Health Threats.
abstract: Highly infectious diseases can spread rapidly across borders through travel or trade, and international coordination is essential to a prompt and efficient response by public health laboratories. Therefore, developing strategies to identify priorities for a rational allocation of resources for research and surveillance has been the focus of a large body of research in recent years. This paper describes the activities and the strategy used by a European-wide consortium funded by the European Commission, named EMERGE (Efficient response to highly dangerous and emerging pathogens at EU level), for the selection of high-threat pathogens with cross-border potential that will become the focus of its preparedness activities. The approach used is based on an objective scoring system, a close collaboration with other networks dealing with highly infection diseases, and a diagnostic gaps analysis. The result is a tool that is simple, objective and adaptable, which will be used periodically to re-evaluate activities and priorities, representing a step forward towards a better response to infectious disease emergencies.
authors.affiliation: 'L. Spallanzani' National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI), Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nisii
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grunow
authors.affiliation: Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brave
authors.affiliation: 'L. Spallanzani' National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI), Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ippolito
authors.affiliation: Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.affiliation: Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden.
authors.forename: Pontus
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jureen
authors.affiliation: 'L. Spallanzani' National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI), Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bartolini
authors.affiliation: 'L. Spallanzani' National Institute for Infectious Diseases (INMI), Rome, Italy. antonino.dicaro@inmi.it.
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Caro
mesh_terms: D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014780:Viruses / Q000472:pathogenicity*