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allied
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IMMUNOLOGY AND CELL BIOLOGY
BACTERIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES
&
Global Summit on
Global Congress on
J u n e 2 5 - 2 6 , 2 0 1 8 | A m s t e r d a m , N e t h e r l a n d s
Virology Research Journal
|
Volume 2
Page 30
Note:
Joint Event on
P
ublic health systems are not always prepared for outbreaks of infectious
diseases. Although in the past several public health institutes, like the
French ‘Institut Pasteur’ and the Dutch ‘Tropeninstituut’, were prominent
surveyors of infectious diseases, the investments in worldwide public health
have decreased. Now more attention is given to curative healthcare compared
to preventive healthcare. The recent EbolaVirusDisease outbreak inWest Africa
initiated a new wave of interest to invest in Worldwide Public Health to prevent
outbreaks of highly contagious diseases. Zoonotic diseases are threatening as
the population does not have natural nor artificial (from vaccination) immune
response to new diseases like in the Ebola virus disease outbreak in 2014. The
new strain of the Ebola Virus inWest Africa was slightly less lethal, compared to
other Ebola Virus strains, but the threat of spreading was far bigger as it had a
longer incubation time. Most public health systems are not trained well enough
to mitigate highly infectious and deadly disease outbreaks. NGO’s helping to
fight the outbreak are often better trained in curative treatments and have
less experience with biological (bioweapon) threats for which the military are
trained for. The UNMEER mission was unique in this. It was a setting in which
military and civilian actors cooperate in fighting a biological threat. Protection
is essential for health workers. Smart systems must be developed to prevent
further spreading of the disease, but it is not only the biosafety, which must
be considered, but also the biosecurity, as misuse of extremely dangerous
strains of microorganisms cannot be excluded. Several zoonotic infectious
diseases, like anthrax, smallpox and hemorrhagic fevers are listed as potential
bioweapons. Therefore both biosafety and biosecurity have to be implemented
in all measures to fight outbreaks of highly infectious diseases.
Biography
Stef Stienstra works internationally for several
medical and biotech companies as Scientific
Advisory Board Member and is also an active re-
serve-officer of the Royal Dutch Navy in his rank
as Commander (OF4). For the Dutch Armed Forc-
es he is CBRNe specialist with focus on (micro)
biological and chemical threats and medical and
environmental functional specialist within the 1st
CMI (Civil Military Interaction) Battalion of the
Dutch Armed Forces. For Expertise France he is
now managing an EU CBRN CoE public health
project in West Africa. He is visiting Professor
at the University of Rome Tor Vergata giving lec-
tures for the CBRN Master study. He has finished
both his studies in Medicine and in Biochemistry
in Netherlands with a doctorate and has exten-
sive practical experience in cell biology, immu-
no-haematology, infectious diseases, biodefense
and transfusion medicine. His natural business
acumen and negotiation competence helps to ini-
tiate new successful businesses, often generated
from unexpected combinations of technologies.
Stef.Stienstra@inter.nl.netTHE THREAT OF ZOONOTIC
DISEASES AND EBOLA VIRUS
DISEASE SPECIFICALLY
Stef Stienstra
Command Royal Dutch Armed Forces
Netherlands
Stef Stienstra, Virol Res J 2018, Volume 2