The Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens (BEBP) Unit at the Institut Pasteur —which hosts the National Reference Center for Corynebacteria of the diphtheriae Species Complex and the National Reference Center for Whooping Cough and other Bordetella infections—is part of the EURL-PH-DIPE, coordinated by the University of Turku (Finland) and bringing together five institutes located in four countries. The two national reference centers housed within the BEBP unit will contribute their expertise and know-how to the consortium, thereby helping to strengthen international surveillance capacity of diphtheria and pertussis.
Pertussis and diphtheria are serious infectious diseases, but both can be effectively prevented through vaccination. Nevertheless, these diseases remain a concern within the European Union.
Activities
The EURL-PH-DIPE aims to maintain and enhance the European Union’s capacity to respond to the public health threats posed by diphtheria and pertussis. To this end, it works to evaluate (EQA), develop, and harmonize laboratory capabilities in Member States; to improve epidemiological surveillance and the harmonization of methods; provide expertise to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and a network of national reference centers; deliver training in diagnostics, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and genomic sequencing data analysis; and ensure a rapid response in the event of local or large-scale outbreaks. In addition, a pan-European seroprevalence study of antibodies against pertussis, diphtheria, and tetanus will also be conducted.
Consortium Members
University of Turku (UTU, consortium coordinator), Finland https://www.utu.fi/en
Institut Pasteur (IP), France https://www.pasteur.fr/en/public-health
Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LGL), Germany https://www.lgl.bayern.de/index.htm
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium https://www.vub.be/en
Sciensano (SCI), Belgium https://www.sciensano.be/en
Principal Investigator: Prof. Sylvain BRISSE
Funding: European Union – HaDEA (EU4H-2023-DGA-MS4-IBA-02-06)
Project website: https://sites.utu.fi/eudipe/
Contact
Dedicated website: EURL-PH-DIPE
Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Pathogenic Bacteria Unit
Institut Pasteur – Université Paris Cité, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux - 75724 Paris Cedex 15 – France
Phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 83 34