European School for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent
- building capacity to improve the health of mothers and children in the european Region -

Winter Courses in Advanced Pediatrics
Seminar on Allergy and Clinical Immunology
12 - 15 February 2007

Senior Faculty:
Alessandro Ventura, Director, Department of Sciences of Reproduction and Development, University of Trieste and Department of Paediatrics, Institute for Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste;
Alberto Tommasini, Immunopathology Lab. Department of Sciences of Reproduction and Development, University of Trieste and Department of Paediatrics, Institute for Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste
Christina Hauer, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology, University of Graz, Austria
Jerney Dolinsek, Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Maribor General Hospital, Maribor, Slovenia
Ilma Karponay-Szabo, Department of Paediatrics, University of Debrecen, Hungary and
Head, Centre for Coeliac Disease, Heim Pál Children's Hospital, Budapest, Hungary
Raffaele Badolato, Head, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital, University of Brescia
Marco Gattorno, Department of Paediatrics, University of Genao and IRCCS Giannina Gaslini Institute, Genova.

Junior faculty: Egidio Barbi, Irene Berti M.D, Alessandra Pontillo, Institute for Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste;


GOAL
The course provides state-of-the-art knowledge on current issues in paediatric allergy and clinical immunology. Participants will acquire both theoretical knowledge and problem solving skills in areas such as congenital immunodeficiencies, chronic asthma, autoreactive periodic fever and severe life-threatening anaphylaxis. The course is also aimed at defining the rationale and the limits of “old” immunosuppressive drugs and the new “ biologic“ drugs for immune-mediated disorders such as Idiopathic Juvenile Arthritis.


TOPICS COVERED
• Congenital immunodeficiencies: from infections to Autoimmunity
• When a congenital immunodeficiency should be suspected: a simplified approach
• Stem cells for transplantation: blood, umbilical cord or what?
• Childhood asthma: less (treatment) is better?
• Facing the child with recurrent fever: from PFAPA to severe genetic disorders
• Food allergy and anaphylaxis: epidemiology, pathogenesis and clinical problems
• Gastrointestinal immunopathology: coeliac disease and IBD
• The child with severe, near fatal, recurrent food anaphylaxis: adrenaline or desensitisation?
• The role of anti TNF-alfa and other biologic drugs in the treatment of immune mediated disorders in children


SESSIONS
1. Congenital immunodeficiency: from infection to autoimmunity
(Alberto Tommasini, Raffaele Badolato, Marino Andolina)

-Clinical case
-Classification: Clinical implication of the molecular defect
-When a congenital immunodeficiency should be suspected: the expert’s tricks
-Immunodeficiency and autoimmunity: IPEX and APECED
-Therapeutic approaches
-Clinical interactive cases


2. Gastrointestinal immunopathology: the model of Coeliac disease
(Tarcisio Not, Jerney Dolinsek, Christine Hauer, Roberto Marzari, Ilma Karponay Szabo, Alessandro Ventura, Irene Berti)

-Clinical case
-How many coeliacs?
-Coeliac Disease:the past, the present (and the future?)
-Immunopathogenesis of Coeliac Disease
-Coeliac Disease and autoimmunity
-How to diagnose Coeliac Disease
-To screen or not to screen (or what?)
-Gluten free diet
-Intriguing interactive cases


3. Facing the child with recurrent fever
(Alberto Tommasini, Alessandra Pontillo, Federico Marchetti, Marco Gattorno)

-Clinical case
-Recurrent respiratory infections
-PFAPA
-Familial Periodic Fever
-Recurrent/Periodic Fever without clinical signs: diagnostic and therapeutic approach
-Clinical interactive cases


4. Food allergy 2007
(Egidio Barbi, Irene Berti, Giorgio Longo, Christine Hauer)

-Clinical case
-Food allergy and anaphylaxis: epidemiology, pathogenesis and clinical problems
-The risk of elimination diets
-The child with severe, near fatal, recurrent food anaphylaxis: adrenaline or desensitisation?
-Interactive clinical cases

5. The role of Anti TNF alfa and of other biologic drugs in the treatment of immune mediated disorders in children
(Alessandro Ventura, Loredana Lepore)

-Clinical cases
-What does “biologic therapy” mean
-Biologic drugs: why, when, how
-Biologic drugs: one disease, one drug?
-Interactive clinical cases

EVALUATION
Participants will be evaluated through their active participation to group work (40%) and by a short dissertation on a case study (60%)

Duration: 4 and ½ days (Monday morning to Friday at noon)

Maximum no. of participants: 20 

download application form

Venue
IRCCS Burlo Garofolo
Trieste

Contacts
Laura Cogoy
e-mail: cogoy@burlo.trieste.it  
tel: +39 040 3785356
fax: +39 040 3785210

Liza Vecchi Brumatti
e-mail: vecchi@burlo.trieste.it