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ECDC Director Marc Sprenger pays flying visit to the MedUni Vienna

Visit of the the Department of Virology and the Clinical Institute for Hospital Hygiene

(Vienna, 11th April 2013) Marc Sprenger, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) spends Thursday to Friday in Vienna for bilateral discussions with the Austrian Health Minister Alois Stöger. Within the framework of this visit he also paid a visit to the Clinical Institute for Hospital Hygiene of the MedUni Vienna / General Hospital Vienna (Director: Elisabeth Presterl) and to the Department of  Virology (Franz Xaver Heinz).

Photograph: 1st row, from left to right: Christiane Druml, Elisabeth Presterl, Marc Sprenger, Pamela Rendi-Wagner

The Institute for Hospital Hygiene at the General Hospital Vienna / MedUni Vienna functions as a national reference centre for nosocomial infections and antibiotic resistance; the virology department is a reference centre / reference laboratory for influenza surveillance, all respiratory viruses, hepatitis A, B and C, measles-mumps-rubella, hantavirus, flaviviruses as well as the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV).
"We presented the work at our reference centre to him, above all in connection with our function as reference laboratory for the Health Ministry," reported Franz X. Heinz.

About the ECDC
The ECDC was established by the European Parliament in 2004. Its tasking is to strengthen Europe’s defences against infectious diseases such as influenza, SARS and HIV/AIDS. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control works closely with national health authorities to set up and support health monitoring systems and early warning systems throughout Europe. By means of this collaboration the ECDC draws together the knowledge existing in Europe on health matters and produces reliable scientific reports on the risks inherent in new infectious diseases appearing.

Link to the ECDC: www.ecdc.europa.eu.