Paris Anti-Avian Influenza 2006 Agenda

Posted on by Targeting Phage Therapy

Objectives of Asian-European Conference on Avian Influenza 2006 :

The aim of this conference is to bring together world specialists in order to discuss the latest advances on Avian Influenza, especially on new therapeutic targets for treatment and prevention in humans, and the strategies to avoid a human pandemic. A special session will be reserved to discuss about the management of a catastrophic scenario, in the case of a pandemic outbreak.

Targeted audience :

The Asian-European Conference on Avian Influenza 2006 targets researchers and academic professors, R&D departments, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, food supplement companies, veterinary medicine companies, marketing departments, investors, start ups, government regulators and actors of the economic environment.

Thematic Areas

  • Focus on H5N1
  • Treatments and perspectives for the fight against influenza
  • Prevention of influenza propagation in animals and humans
  • Disaster management response

Final Program

Thursday June 29

8h30 – Welcome

Session 1 : Introduction

Chairmen: Pr A. Osterhaus, Dr G. Rodier

8h50 – Conference Opening
Dr Felix Rey, Department of Virology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

9h00 – General Introduction
Recall of the facts: the origin of the avian epidemic, first concerned countries…
Latest data about the epidemic: how much countries concerned, how much human cases…
Conclusions of the November 2005 WHO meeting in Geneva, Switzerland
Dr Guenael Rodier, WHO Europe, Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response, Copenhague, Denmark

9h30 – Economic Impact of the Avian Influenza Propagation
Impact on the poultry industry and the global economy of South East Asia
Impact on public health worldwide
Dr Milan Brahmbhatt, the World Bank Group, Washington DC, USA

10h00 – The need of a global task force for influenza
Pr Albert Osterhaus, National Influenza Centre and Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

10h30 – Break and Poster Session

Session 2: Focus on H5N1

Chairmen: Dr M. De Jong, Dr D. Swayne

11h00 – The Widening Host Range and Changing Pathobiology of Eurasian H5N1 Avian Influenza in Domestic and Wild Birds
What are the clinical signs and lesions of the avian flu in poultry?
What is the kind of birds affected?
Ecology and changes in the H5N1 HPAI as expressed in broader avian host range
What adaptation of the virus to new bird species?
Dr David Swayne, Southeast Poultry Research Lab, Agricultural Research Service, Athens, Georgia, USA

11h30 – Influenza H5N1 : diagnosis and disease
What kind of diseases and consequences for human health?
What are the tools for early detection of the virus?
Pr Menno D. de Jong, Department of Virology, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU), Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

12h00 – Risks of H5N1 mutations and mammalian adaptation
Dr Erich Hoffman, Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, USA

12h30 – Short Oral Communication

  • Importance of the receptor binding surveillance to detect the jumping of the host range of the highly pathogenic bird influenza virus (H5N1) into humans
    Yasuo Suzuki, College of life and Health sciences, Chubu University, Aichi, Japan

12h40 – Lunch and Poster Session

14h00 – Role of Mathematical Modelling in Pandemic Preparedness
What tools are used to make this kind of study?
What are the results of the latest modelling?
Based on these simulations, which kind of actions have to be applied to avoid a human pandemic?
Dr Simon Cauchemez, Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

14h30 – Short Oral Communications

  • Pathogenesis of H5N1 a/vietnam/1203/04 in a mouse infection model
    James Long, Battelle medical research & evaluation facility, Columbus, USA
     
  • Distinct inhibition patterns of influenza a virus between the two most frequent alleles at the porcine MX1 locus
    Mélanie Palm, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Belgium
     
  • Clinical and laboratory comparison of human infections with dengue, influenza or avian influenza a (H5N1) viruses in Indonesia
    Herman Kosasih, Naval Medical Research Unit #2 (NAMRU-2) Jakarta, Indonesia

Session 3: H5N1 Detection, Treatments and Perspectives

Chairmen: Pr E. De Clercq, Dr L. Chernomordik, Dr E. Hoffmann

14h50 – Avian influenza in humans: existing treatments, their limits, and new perspectives
Tamiflu, Relenza, Amantadine, Rimantadine and others
Erik De Clercq, Virology and Chemotherapy Section, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

15h20 – Short Oral Communication

  • Increased sensitivity to Oseltamivir of neuraminidase of recent Influenza A (H5N1) Viruses
    Marie Anne Rameix-Welti, Unité de Génétique Moléculaire des Virus Respiratoires, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

15h30 – Break and Poster Session

16h00 – Multivalent lectins as inhibitors of viral fusion and entry in cells: new antiviral mechanism
Pr Leonid Chernomordick, Section on Membrane Biology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland,USA

16h30 – In silico docking on grid infrastructures to accelerate structure-based design against Influenza A Neuraminidases
Finding potential compounds that can inhibit the activities of Influenza A neuraminidase N1 subtype variants.
Accelerating the discovery of novel potent inhibitors through minimizing non-productive trial-and-error approaches.
Improving the efficiency of high throughput screening thanks to the grid infrastructure.
Dr Nicolas Jacq or Dr Vincent Breton, Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire of Clermont-Ferrand, CNRS/IN2P3, University of Clermont Ferrand, Aubière, France

17h00 – Electrochemical Influenza Surveillance System
Dr Amit Kumar, CombiMatrix Corporation President and CEO, Mukilteo,USA

17h15 – The use of real-time NASBA for the diagnosis of H5N1 Influenza and other respiratory viruses
Dr Guy Vernet, Director of the Emerging Pathogens R&D Department, Biomérieux, Marcy L’Etoile, France

17h30 – Short Oral Presentation

  • An alternative neutralization assay for H5N1 influenza a virus using retroviral pseudotypes
    Nigel Temperton, MRC/UCL Centre for Medical Molecular Virology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
     
  • Development of a real-time PCR assay for the detection of human influenza a (H5N1) virus and sequence comparison of three avian influenza a (H5N1) detected in Switzerland
    Yves Thomas National Centre of Influenza, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
     
  • THE NA-STAR® influenza neuraminidase inhibitor resistance detection kit: chemiluminescence assay for detection and quantification of influenza neuraminidase activity
    Corinne Olesen, Applied Biosystems, Bedford, USA
     
  • Detection of avian influenza A/H5 viral isolates with highly sensitive, specific and inclusive real-time RT-PCR assays
    Olga Petrauskene, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, USA

18h00 – Discussion : What are the perspectives of Influenza treatment?
In the presence of the Scientific Committee

19h30 – Gala Dinner
On the Seine, on board of the cruising restaurant boat “Le Capitaine Fracasse”

Friday June 30

Session 4: How to prevent Human and Avian Influenza

Chairmen: Pr S. Van der Werf, Dr S. Sambhara

9h00 – The international response on avian influenza
The terrestrial animal health code
International standards
Vaccination
Short/medium and long term actions on global, regional and national level
Dr Christianne Bruschke, OIE, Paris, France

9h30 – Strategies to prevent avian influenza in humans in a non pandemic frame
How to avoid the transmission of the virus from animal to human?
Isolation in health care facilities
Health care worker exposures
Precautions for household and close contacts
Precautions for travelers
Pr Didier Houstin, Interministry Delegate for the Fight against Avian Influenza, French Ministry of Health, Paris, France

10h00 – Prevention through immunization: latest advances on vaccination
New adjuvants
Reverse genetics
Pr Sylvie Van der Werf, Génétique Moléculaire des Virus Respiratoires – URA 1966 CNRS, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France

10h30 – Break and Poster Session

11h00 – Development of adenoviral-vector-based pandemic influenza vaccine against antigenically distinct human H5N1 strains in mice
Dr Suryaprakash Sambhara, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA

11h30 – Short Oral Communications

  • A new approach for an influenza virus live vaccine by modification of the cleavage site of the haemagglutinin by reverse genetics
    Juergen Stech, Institute of Virology, University Hospital Giessen-Marburg, Germany
     
  • Development of vaccines against pandemic influenza : Safety, immunogenicity and prospects of an inactivated split-virion H5N1 influenza vaccine
    Dr Agnes Hoffenbach, Influenza Franchise Program Leader, Sanofi Pasteur, Marcy l’Etoile, France
     
  • Respiratory protection against avian influenza
    Pierre Jean Messier, Triosyn Corporation , USA

11h50 – Antiviral effect of catechins in green tea on influenza virus
Pr Baik-Lin Seong, Department of Biotechnology, College of Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, South Korea

12h20 Pandemic Influenza: a potential role for statins in treatment and prophylaxis
Pr David Fedson, Former Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Sergy Haut, France

12h35 – Short Oral Communication

  • Subtype-diverse inactivation of influenza A viruses including H5N1 with an extract of Trifolium species and pomegranate juice
    Girish Kotwal, Division of Medical Virology, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IIDMM), University of Cape Town School of Medicine, Cape Town, South Africa

12h40 – Lunch and Poster Session

Session 5: Disaster Management Response

Chairemen: Pr F. Bricaire, Pr K Van der Velden

14h00 – How to manage a Human Pandemic of Avian Influenza? Is Europe ready?
What are the different phases of a pandemic?
What are the measures set up by the governments?
What are the recommendations for individuals and public organisms in case of a pandemic?

14h30 -Ethical Challenges in Pandemic Planning
How to minimize the differences in means between rich and poor countries in the fight against a pandemic?
How and to whom should the doses of vaccines be distributed in priority: to infected patients or in prevention to people important for the maintenance of the economical?
How to avoid or minimize the impact of travel restrictions and quarantine?
Dr Ross E.G. Upshur, Joint Centre for Bioethics Flu Pandemic Working Group Member, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

15h00 – Round Table Discussion in presence of emergency medical doctors, general medical doctors, crisis management specialists and the scientific committee: is the medical profession ready to fight against a pandemic? Is the world ready to face a human avian flu pandemic?
Is the medical profession well informed and trained?
What are the recommendations for the health workers?
What are the solutions to face the vaccine shortage? (example: to improve the vaccine efficiency)
How to avoid a funnel effect in the emergency room?
What would be the ideal organization in the hospital to manage a pandemic?

Round Table Chairman: Pr Koos Van der Velden (Chairman of the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme)
In the presence of Dr Anne Mosnier, National Coordinator of the French Group of Regional Influenza Observation (GROG)

15h45 – Conclusion and Recommendations by the scientific committee