European Advance Course on Clinical TB 2021
Save the date!
European Advanced Course on Clinical Tuberculosis (EACCTB) will be held on 09.06.2021 to 11.06.2021.
The format will be either a hybrid event with a limited number of participants and a simultaneous online connection or a fully-online event, depending on how the COVID-19 situation develops.
Regardless of the circumstances, we hope to see you all there - by whatever means.
The program will be announced shortly.
3rd International Meeting on Childhood Tuberculosis
The ptbnet invites you to join the 3rd International Meeting on Childhood Tuberculosis as a hybrid Meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria on September 23-25, 2021 More information will shortly be available in the Website: https://ptbnetsofia2020.com
TBnet monthly webinars on Clinical Cases, Research and Advocacy
From January 2021, TBnet will resume its webinars. These will be organized monthly and will cover three alternating topics: Clinical Cases, Research and Advocacy. The aim of the webinar series is to share knowledge as well as to keep and develop contacts between TBnet members and other colleagues even in the circumstances of the covid-19 pandemic. Webinars with speakers and panelists from TBnet and their collaborators will be organized by the members of the TBnet Steering Committee.
The webinars will take place every last Thursday of each month @16:00.
Webinar topics/schedule 2021
January – Research; February – Clinical Case; March – Advocacy; April - Clinical Case; May – Research; June - Clinical Case; July – Advocacy; August - Clinical Case; September – Research; October - Clinical Case; November – Advocacy; December - the Year in Review
The information about speakers for each webinar will be shared through TBnet mail and social media.
The Periscope paper & the Periscope tool
In the past, TBnet was successful in evaluating performance characteristics of Interferon gamma release assays in the setting of contact tracing and in immunocompromised patients. Two large studies on 5020 contacts to cases with active tuberculosis [1], and on 1537 patients with immunodeficiencies [2] were published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. These two studies were the inaugural studies developed and conducted by TBnet, and as such formed the basis of the network that TBnet is now.
TBnet was happy to collaborate with Rishi Gupta and this team at the University College London by contributing these datasets to a seminal study on developing a tool to better predict tuberculosis from IGRA test results and additional risk factors. This study, now published in Nature Medicine [3], developed an algorithm that was implemented in a web-based tool to be easily applied in clinical practice in low incidence countries. This Periskope tool allows for an individual prediction on the likelihood to develop tuberculosis, and how this can be decreased by preventive chemotherapy. The tool also provides a number needed to treat, which is helpful for clinical practice.
Experienced clinicians will be surprised how well the tool reflects expert knowledge. For less experienced clinicians, the tool will provide useful guidance in daily patient care.
Check the tool at http://periskope.org/
References:
1 Zellweger, J. P., Sotgiu, G., Block, M., Dore, S., Altet, N., Blunschi, R., Bogyi, M.et al., Risk Assessment of Tuberculosis in Contacts by IFN-gamma Release Assays. A Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2015. 191: 1176-1184.
2 Sester, M., van Leth, F., Bruchfeld, J., Bumbacea, D., Cirillo, D. M., Dilektasli, A. G., Dominguez, J.et al.,Risk assessment of tuberculosis in immunocompromised patients. A TBNET study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2014. 190: 1168-1176.
3 Gupta, R. K., Calderwood, C. J., Yavlinsky, A., Krutikov, M., Quartagno, M., Aichelburg, M. C., Altet, N.et al., Discovery and validation of a personalized risk predictor for incident tuberculosis in low transmission settings. Nat Med 2020.
The Migration TBnet study is recruiting participating centers
You still have a chance to join TBnet Migration study led by Lorenzo Guglielmetti and Berit Lange – read the details here https://www.tbnet.eu/migrant-project.
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