MJW van de Laar’s scientific contributions

... In Europe, an important contribution is provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) which, with the technical report " Risk Assessment Guidelines for Infectious Diseases transmitted on Aircraft " (RAGIDA) (ECDC, 2009) [21] and with the guidance " Risk Assessment Guidelines for Diseases transmitted on Aircraft (RAGIDA). Part 2: Operational guidelines for assisting in the evaluation of risk for transmission by disease " (ECDC, 2010) [22] traces, for some of the most important transmissible diseases, the main characteristics, the routes of exposure and the procedures to be adopted in the immediate and in the post-exposure, especially in reference to the problem of traceability of possible peoples contacts. For the health security, airplanes are generally more secure than other transportation, mainly for the hygiene and salubrity of the air, thanks to high-efficiency air filters. ...

Reference:

Biological Emergency Management: The Case of Ebola 2014 and the Air Transportation Involvement

... Gonorrhoea is a major public health concern globally [1]. In 2011, 39 179 gonorrhoea cases were reported from 28 European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) Member States, with an overall incidence of 12.6 cases per 100,000 population [2]. In most of the non-EU/EEA countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region (mostly in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslav Republic), during the last two decades the incidence has rapidly declined. ...

Reference:

Russian gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility programme (RU-GASP) – resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae during 2009–2012 and NG-MAST genotypes in 2011 and 2012

... While penA, ponA, porB, and mtrR determinants have been associated with resistance, many laboratories have failed to transform strains already containing these resistance determinants, indicating that the cause of this non-transformable penicillin and cephalosporin resistance termed factor X remains unknown [16]. Nevertheless, this should not be neglected, because over the past decade multidrug resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis have emerged and spread worldwide [17]. This has posed a serious publich health concern, especially in low and middle income countries that might have an underdeveloped antimicrobial stewardship and AMR surviellence programs. ...

Reference:

Emergence of a Neisseria flavescens clinical strain with a high level of third-generation cephalosporins resistance in Lebanon