IUSTI Regions: Europe

Report from the IUSTI European Regional Director

 

IUSTI Europe Council

Prof Mikhail Gomberg (Russia) has been elected as the new Treasurer of IUSTI Europe, replacing Dr Simon Barton (UK). Dr Jackie Sherrard (UK) has been elected as the first IUSTI Europe Membership Secretary. Jackie has worked hard to establish a robust membership database for the Branch.

 

IUSTI Europe Congresses

Members of IUSTI Europe are very much looking forward to a series of excellent annual European STI congresses starting of course with the combined IUSTI/ISSTDR meeting in Vienna 14-17 July.

In 2014 the IUSTI Europe Congress will take place in Malta, 17-20 September. The president of the congress will be Dr Joe Pace. The conference venue will be the Radisson Blu, St Julian’s (see: www.iustimalta2014.org). Site visits to Malta have been made by the European Chair and Regional Director (Drs Airi Poder and Keith Radcliffe) as well as by the the Chair of the International Scientific Committee, Dr Jackie Sherrard. An International Scientific Committee has been established and a draft scientific programme produced.

In 2015 the IUSTI Europe Congress will take place in Barcelona and the President will be Dr Marti Vall Mayans. The meeting will be held 24-26 September.

In 2016 the European Congress will be held in Budapest hosted by the Hungarian STD Society under its President Prof Viktoria Varkonyi.

There are currently only two IUSTI national associations in the world and I am pleased to say that both of these are European; both have held meetings since my last report; Prof Mikhail Gomberg held a meeting of IUSTI.Russia in Moscow and Dr Airi Poder held a meeting of IUSTI.Estonia in that country.

This successful model of national associations is being viewed with interest in other European countries and serious expressions of interest in setting up further national associations have been received from the Ukraine and from Azerbaijan.

The third congress of the Euro-Asian Association of Dermato-venereologists (EAAD) took place in Odessa, Ukraine 31 May-4 June. As part of the meeting a very strong one day STI course was organised by Prof Mikhail Gomberg in which many international speakers participated. The EAAD has been established as a non-profit association registered in Latvia.

 

European STI Guidelines Project

The project has obtained the endorsement of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious diseases (ESCMID, see: www.escmid.org/ ); Prof Mario Poljak from Slovenia has joined the Editorial Board as the official liaison with ESCMID.

The guideline on, ‘Organising a consultation for STI’ is now on the guidelines section of the European website (see: www.iusti.org/regions/europe/euroguidelines.htm ) and has been published in the International Journal of STD and AIDS (2012; 23: 609-612). The revised guideline on pelvic infection has been posted on the website. The revised guideline on gonorrhoea has also been posted on the website and this is particularly important given the concern over developing antibiotic resistance. Prof Magnus Unemo (Sweden) has published an article in Eurosurveillance (2012; 17: 47) drawing attention to the guideline and its implications for clinical practice.

Work is ongoing on revising guidelines on: syphilis, proctitis, LGV, hepatitis epididymo-orchitis, HIV testing, balano-posthitis and sexually acquired reactive arthritis. A completely new guideline on partner management is in development. The project is also producing patient information in English about all the conditions addressed in the guidelines. All guidelines and patient information can be accessed at the guidelines web page. At the same page are links to patient information on gonorrhoea in German and information on a range of conditions in Romanian.

 

Dr Keith Radcliffe
June 2013