Establishment and reinforcement of the national reference centers for human microbiology in Belgium

Muyldermans, Gaëtan; Litzroth, Amber; Ducoffre, G; Quoilin, Sophie

doi:10.1186/0778-7367-70-16

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Nowadays, RLs have been recognized for a few types of medical analyses and in a limited number of countries. Most of them are focused on human genetics and microbiology tests[20][21][22]. The establishment of Belgian RLs for some analyses used in the context of rare diseases performed during this study echoes the previous recognition of Belgian National Reference Centers for human microbiology in 2011(20) and is to our knowledge the rst RL initiative in the context of rare diseases and for analyses of clinical chemistry, haematology and immunology.…”

mentioning

confidence: 63%

Belgian rare diseases plan in clinical pathology: identification of key biochemical diagnostic tests and establishment of reference laboratories and financing conditions

Vandevelde

Vermeersch

Devreese

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: One objective of the Belgian Rare Diseases plan is to improve patients’ management using phenotypic tests and, more specifically, the access to those tests by identifying the biochemical analyses used for rare diseases, developing new financing conditions and establishing reference laboratories.Methods: A feasibility study was performed from May 2015 until August 2016 in order to select the financeable biochemical analyses, and, among them, those that should be performed by reference laboratories. This selection was based on an inventory of analyses used for rare diseases and a survey addressed to the Belgian laboratories of clinical pathology (investigating the annual analytical costs, volumes, turnaround times and the tests unavailable in Belgium and outsourced abroad). A proposal of financeable analyses, financing modalities, reference laboratories’ scope and budget estimation was developed and submitted to the Belgian healthcare authorities. After its approval in December 2016, the implementation phase took place from January 2017 until December 2019.Results: In 2019, new reimbursement conditions have been published for 46 analyses and eighteen reference laboratories have been recognized. Collaborations have also been developed with 5 foreign laboratories in order to organize the outsourcing and financing of 9 analyses unavailable in Belgium. Conclusions: In the context of clinical pathology and rare diseases, this initiative enabled to identify unreimbursed analyses and to meet the most crucial financial needs. It also contributed to improve patients’ management by establishing Belgian reference laboratories and foreign referral laboratories for highly-specific analyses and a permanent surveillance, quality and financing framework for those tests.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 63%

Belgian rare diseases plan in clinical pathology: identification of key biochemical diagnostic tests and establishment of reference laboratories and financing conditions

Vandevelde

Vermeersch

Devreese

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As such registration does not exist, one must resort to what exists. In Belgium, several large and important data generating systems are in place: –The national health surveys (performed in 1997, 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2013; https://his.wiv-isp.be/ ) –The national cancer registry ( http://www.kankerregister.org/ ) –The 40 national reference centers and 16 national reference laboratories for human microbiology ( https://nrchm.wiv-isp.be/ ; [ 20 ]) –The network of sentinel GPs and sentinel microbiology laboratories ( https://www.wiv-isp.be/epidemio/epien/index8.htm ; [ 21 ]) –The mandatory reporting of specific agents. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying burden of disease to support public health policy in Belgium: opportunities and constraints

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundTo support public health policy, information on the burden of disease is essential. In recent years, the Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) has emerged as the most important summary measure of public health. DALYs quantify the number of healthy life years lost due to morbidity and mortality, and thereby facilitate the comparison of the relative impact of diseases and risk factors and the monitoring of public health over time.DiscussionEvidence on the disease burden in Belgium, expressed as DALYs, is available from international and national efforts. Non-communicable diseases and injuries dominate the overall disease burden, while dietary risks, tobacco smoking, and high body-mass index are the major risk factors for ill health. Notwithstanding these efforts, if DALYs were to be used for guiding health policy, a more systematic approach is required. By integrating DALYs in the current data generating systems, comparable estimates, rooted in recent local data, can be produced. This might however be hampered by several restrictions, such as limited harmonization, timeliness, inclusiveness and accessibility of current databases.SummaryRoutine quantification of disease burden in terms of DALYs would provide a significant added value to evidence-based public health policy in Belgium, although some hurdles need to be cleared.

show abstract

“…Oral fluid and serum samples were sent to the National Reference Center for Measles and Rubella [15]. Elevated measles IgG was accepted as criterion for laboratory confirmation in infants older than 6 months but too young to be vaccinated.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obstacles in measles elimination: an in-depth description of a measles outbreak in Ghent, Belgium, spring 2011

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: From Mid-February to April 2011 one of the largest measles-outbreak in Flanders, since the start of the 2-dose vaccination scheme in 1995, took place in Ghent, Belgium. The outbreak started in a day care center, infecting children too young to be vaccinated, after which it spread to anthroposophic schools with a low measles, mumps and rubella vaccination coverage. This report describes the outbreak and evaluates the control measures and interventions. Methods: Data collection was done through the system of mandatory notification of the public health authority. Vaccination coverage in the schools was assessed by a questionnaire and the electronic immunization database 'Vaccinnet'. A case was defined as anyone with laboratory confirmed measles or with clinical symptoms and an epidemiological link to a laboratory confirmed case. Towards the end of the outbreak we only sought laboratory confirmation for persons with an atypical clinical presentation or without an epidemiological link. In search for an index patient we determined the measles IgG level of infants from the day care center. Results: A total of 65 cases were reported of which 31 were laboratory confirmed. Twenty-five were confirmed by PCR and/or IgM. In 6 infants, too young to be vaccinated, only elevated measles IgG levels were found. Most cases (72%) were young children (0-9 years old). All but two cases were completely unimmunized. In the day care center all the infants who were too young to be vaccinated (N=14) were included as cases. Thirteen of them were laboratory confirmed. Eight of these infants were hospitalized with symptoms suspicious for measles. Vaccination coverage in the affected anthroposophic schools was low, 45-49% of the pupils were unvaccinated. We organized vaccination campaigns in the schools and vaccinated 79 persons (25% of those unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated). Conclusions: Clustering of unvaccinated persons, in a day care center and in anthroposophic schools, allows for measles outbreaks and is an important obstacle for the elimination of measles. Isolation measures, a vacation period and an immunization campaign limited the spread of measles within the schools but could not prevent further spread among unvaccinated family members. It was necessary to raise clinicians' awareness of measles since it had become a rare, less known disease and went undiagnosed.

show abstract

Establishment and reinforcement of the national reference centers for human microbiology in Belgium

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

Belgian rare diseases plan in clinical pathology: identification of key biochemical diagnostic tests and establishment of reference laboratories and financing conditions

Belgian rare diseases plan in clinical pathology: identification of key biochemical diagnostic tests and establishment of reference laboratories and financing conditions

Quantifying burden of disease to support public health policy in Belgium: opportunities and constraints

Obstacles in measles elimination: an in-depth description of a measles outbreak in Ghent, Belgium, spring 2011

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About