[Editorial] An idea, an aim, an institute devoted to medical education on paediatric virology

Abstract

On behalf of the Paediatric Virology Study Group (PVSG), we would like to announce to all of you the official beginning of the Institute of Paediatric Virology (IPV) on the island of Euboea, Greece (1). The IPV is a paediatric initiative specialised in medical education on the bold, new, educational field of paediatric virology and we are all very proud that the creation of this scientific institution, following an international debate with top experts in our field, takes place in Greece and on the island of one of the greatest scientists in the modern history of medicine, the great doctor, researcher and humanitarian Dr George N. Papanicolaou.The IPV, as read on its Memorandum of association (Fig. 1), is dedicated to the continuing medical education of medical students, specialty trainees in paediatrics and neonatology, postgraduate students, clinical virologists and paediatricians, who are interested in the new scientific field of paediatric virology. Its aim is the promotion and transmission of knowledge on topics related to the prevention, diagnosis, therapy and management of viral infections occurring in neonates and children.A long journey that lasted a total of 12 years, today, is at its end. Nevertheless, the end of this journey signals and dynamically initiates a new start. Twelve years ago, in 2007, the management of two premature twins of very low birth-weight with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, who were treated at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Wirral University Teaching Hospital in Merseyside in the United Kingdom (UK), required the collaboration of an extensive network of specialised health professionals, including neonatologists, microbiologists, clinical virologists and general paediatricians in Liverpool, Manchester and London (2). The management of these twins demonstrated in a very educational way the clinical significance of the subspecialization in the new, bold, educational field of the neonatal and paediatric viral infections.These twins, in Liverpool, were the source of inspiration, at that time, for the establishment of the PVSG consisting of specialty trainees (STs) in paediatrics and neonatology and junior researchers (3). The topics examined by this team were viral infections in neonates and children, their pathophysiology, their molecular virology characteristics, their prevention and their therapeutic management. This group was the basis of our scientific efforts over the subsequent years. As the time passed, two academic teachers, a professor of clinical virology and a professor of paediatrics, positively evaluated this union, the union between paediatrics and virology.