European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE)

The conference started with Dr. Ilaria Capua’s keynote address on globalisation and pathogens. Dr. Capua is a veterinarian by training and has devoted most of her professional life to virology. In 2011, she was the first female recipient of the Penn Vet World Leadership Award. In 2014, she received the Excellence Award conferred by the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Other major topics that ESCAIDE 2014 addressed were:

• "How are cross-border health threats dealt with in the EU" With an introduction from Martin Seychell, Deputy Director-General for Consumers and Health, European Commission; presentations on preparedness and risk assessment at an EU level; and risk management and risk assessment at national level.
• "Primum non nocere  – Why engineer microbes to be more dangerous to humankind" A plenary discussion with Dr. Filippa Lentzos and Dr. Simon Wain-Hobson.
• Surveillance of influenza in humans and animals, emerging and vector-borne diseases, attitudes to vaccines and effectiveness of vaccination, and many more.

At the end of its first day, this year’s Conference piloted the BarCamp@ESCAIDE event, an informal get-together to discuss raw ideas, data and methodological challenges and more with peers and seniors.