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1893 CNIPH
ISSN 1333-0608 |
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MONTHLY NEWS
Croatian National Institute
of Public Health
A meeting and a
forum to mark the foundation of “Hrvatski
casopis za javno zdravstvo”
(Croatian public health review) were held at CNIPH. This review in
Croatian will start coming out in electronic form at the beginning of
2005. While to be open to any medical and public health topic in the
widest sense of these words, its focuses will be on the scientifically
based, and on the form and message. Assistant Professor Slobodan Lang,
ScD, is its editor-in-chief designate.
To mark preventive
health action days (World Mental Health Day, International
Walk Day and World Food Day), lectures were held at Croatian
Army’s Home on 14 October, with a fitness walk to climb the Sljeme
Mountain the next day. Lecturers from CNIPH were Dr Ivan Pristas,
Professor Marija Strnad, Pr Vlasta Hrabak‑Zerjavic, MD, MSc and Dr Iva
Pejnovic-Franelic.
Lectures on mobile
mammography were delivered at the Zagreb Institute of Public Health
on 15 October under the auspices of the deputy prime minister and
minister of health, Professor Andrija Hebrang. Apart from lectures by
Professor Ivo Drinkovic, chairman, Croatian Medical Association’s
Senologic Society and Dr Zvonimir Sostar, deputy head, Office of Health,
Work and Social Welfare, Professor Marija Strnad dealt with the subject
of breast carcinoma epidemiology.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY SERVICE
(Ministry of
Health’s Reference Centre for Epidemiology)
- Head, Prof. Dr Ira Gjenero-Margan
A counselling centre,
more precisely a centre for free and anonymous HIV counselling and
testing, has been opened at Croatian National Institute of Public
Health. At Split and Rijeka county public health institutes, such
counselling centres have been in operation since the beginning of 2004.
An additional six counselling centres are planned to start operation
over the next two years, thereby forming a counselling centre network at
public health institutes. There, anyone interested will be able to
receive individual medical consultation and free and anonymous testing
for HIV infection, if necessary.
CHRONIC MASS DISEASE
EPIDEMIOLOGY DEPARTMENT
- Head, Pr Vlasta Hrabak-Zerjavic, MD, MSc
A CNIPH
publication “Mental Diseases and Disorders in
Croatia”
containing mental disease and disorder data, selected mental health
service indicators and suicide figures has been presented to the
public. Of equal importance to Croatia and other European countries
are the integration of mental health in all public health strategies,
and the acceptance of its importance at every level of the society.
Thus, a translation of the Finnish National Centre for Research and
Development of Social Welfare and Health’s “Framework for public
health action in the area of mental health” was also placed at the
disposal of the Croatian public.
Taking place in Opatija
on 1-3 October 2004 were a Second Croatian Conference on Alcoholism
and Other Dependencies and the Sixth Alpe-Adria Conference on
Alcoholism. Our Service staffers delivered their posters (Dr
Maja Silobrcic et al., “Epidemiologic Survey of Mental Diseases and
Conditions due to Alcohol in Croatia” and “Mental Disorders and
Behavioural Disorders due to Alcohol in Croatia”; Natasa Antoljak, ScD,
et al.,”Endothelin /1‑21/ levels at various degrees of alcoholic liver
cirrhosis”).
The Second Congress
of Croatian Society for Neurovascular Disorders took place in Zagreb
on 14-16 October 2004. Pr Vlasta Hrabak‑Zerjavic, MD, MSc attended with
a lecture “Epidemiology of Apoplexy in Croatia”.
Organised by
Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, a Videoconference
on Scientific and Development Programmes and Initiatives of the EU
was held on 14 October 2004 at the Zagreb University Medical School and
those in Rijeka, Split, Osijek and Varaždin.
The main topics were the experiences of the Republic of Croatia and
future prospects for participation in the Framework Research Programmes
of the EU. Currently in progress is the Sixth Framework Research
Programme of the EU (FP6) in which Croatia has the “third country”
status, limiting its participation in the programme and financing. The
Ministry of Science, Education and Sport co‑ordinates activities in
connection with Croatia joining full FP6 membership, the basic
conditions being paying the national fee and establishing national
contact points for individual FP6 programme lines. Slovenian and
Hungarian experiences with the EU framework programmes were described,
as well as Life, ERA, Eureka and INTERREG programmes. Ariana Znaor, MD,
MSc attended there.
In
Edinburgh, a Capacity Building Workshop on Tobacco Control for
representatives of medical associations and chambers from Europe was
held on 20-23 October. This was organised by Tobacco Control Resource
Centre of the British Medical Association and by the WHO Regional Office
for Europe. The aim of the gathering was to familiarise the
participants with the size of the smoking problem world‑wide, recent
evidence of health sequels of smoking, evidence-based approach to
dehabituation, comprehensive tobacco surveillance programmes at the
state and global levels, the role of health workers and professional
medical societies in tobacco surveillance. Another aim was to encourage
them to hold seminars for physicians in their countries aimed at
training and strengthen them in the tobacco surveillance role. Pr
Egidio Cepulic and Dr Verica Kralj represented Croatia at the
Conference; taking part in the observer capacity was medical student
Divo Ljubicic, chairman of the European Federation of Medical Students.
SOCIAL MEDICINE SERVICE
- Head, Urelija Rodin, MD, MSc
The primary
subjects at the Twenty-first Congress Ante Drazancic Perinatal Days
related to the influence of preeclampsia on pregnancy and delivery
outcomes, post-Caesarean section child delivery, and on neural risk
aetiology and monitoring. Congress conclusions also included -- as
part of improvements to the treatment, habilitation and monitoring of
neural‑risk newborns -- a proposal to establish a
Neural-Risk Newborns Registry. The expert working committee
should, with the participation of a staffer from this Service, draw up
a monitoring proposal to be submitted to the Ministry of Health and
Social Welfare of the Republic of Croatia.
In drafting a “Croatian
Health Development Strategy, 2004-15” involving all CNIPH services,
a situation analysis proposal with demographic review and a
selection of most significant public health indicators was made. On
certain indicators, a comparison was drawn to other countries with
similar social and economic conditions, and with EU averages. The
proposal is also to include a description of the health status of
certain population groups and important public health problems.
On the
model of attached tables, routine annual health statistics that CNIPH
collected through its investigations have been delivered to the World
Health Organization for HFA, (Health for All Database). The data
relates to a variety of public health indicators (on demography,
mortality, morbidity, and medical resources). Health resource
indicators cover health worker profiles, acute and chronic bed
capacities, bed utilisation, as well as mother and child health and care
indicators. The selected set of public health data was also submitted
for the needs of the UN MONEE (Monitoring Social Conditions and Public
Policy in Central and Eastern Europe) database project.
ADDICTION PREVENTION SERVICE
-
Acting head, Pr
Marina Kuzman, MD,
ScD
At the Council of Europe
in Strasbourg, the Second Meeting of the Pompidou Group for
Prevention of Drug Addictions was organised on 19-20 October 2004.
Seventeen representatives from 12 European countries attended, with Dr
Dragica Katalinic, head, Treated Psychoactive Drug Addict Registry as
the Croatian representative. The meeting dealt with simultaneous
poly‑drug use, such as of several drug types and/or alcohol as its main
subject. The debate sought to unravel the issue which drugs are mostly
combined, precisely why these combinations are chosen, and what main
problems arise during such use. Reported by different countries were
different views and experiences. In the case of such combined drug
abuse, higher incidence of fatal outcomes was observed, emphasising the
need to prepare a material of information on the mode of action of
individual drug combinations.
MICROBIOLOGY SERVICE
- Head, Prof.
Dr Gordana Mlinaric-Galinovic
The Fifth
Meeting of the European Society for Chlamydia Research was held in
Budapest on 1-4 September 2004. Dr S Ljubin Sternak attended for
CNIPH by presenting a poster “The prevalence of Chlamydia
trachomatis in asymptomatic and symptomatic male populations in
Croatia – a
prospective pilot study”.
Molecular Diagnostics
Department, headed by A. Babic-Erceg, ScD, has introduced molecular
diagnosis for C. trachomatis. This involves using an automated
system (COBAS-AMPLICOR), based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and
having a greater sensitivity and specificity than the previous
diagnostic methods. Using this method permits C. trachomatis to
be demonstrated from urine samples as well (readily accessible clinical
material). One should note that our Service is the only one in Croatia
to identify and isolate these demanding bacteria, which is especially
important in patient control on completion of special therapy.
Virologic Serologic
Diagnosis Unit run by Master T. Vilibic Cavlek has introduced the
Chlamydia pneumoniae diagnosis by means of the
micrommunofluorescence test as well. It has the advantage of chlamydial
species demonstrability, something that could not be shown by
traditional complement fixation (CF) test for its being group‑specific.
The Fourth Croatian
Congress on Infectious Diseases with International Participation
took place on 2-6 October 2004 in Opatija. Attending on behalf of the
Virology Department were B. Turkovic, ScD, with a poster “HFRS in 2003:
serologic test results of Croatian National Institute of Public Health”
and Dr T. Vilibic Cavlek with one titled “Q-fever in 2003: a Croatian
National Institute of Public Health Report”. Dr. D. Horvat Krejci and
Dr M. Sviben from the Department of Parasitology with Mycology reported
on freely living amoeba of the Acanthameoba genus as rarely a
causative agent of severe keratitis that mainly occurs in people wearing
lens and is capable of leading to sight and eye losses. That paper
reviewed the first case of amoebic keratitis in Croatia. E. Mlinaric
Missoni, ScD, and V. Vazic Babic, ScD with collaborators presented their
paper “Fungal Infections of Diabetic Foot Ulcer” in which mycological
and histopathological diagnostic methods demonstrated mycotic infection
of ulcer in 14.9%, and toe web dermatophytosis and yeast colonisation
in 24% of diabetic patients.
At Struga, Macedonia,
Thirty Second October Meeting with International Participation was
organised on 5-9 October 2004. Conferees from our Virology Department
were Lj. Katicic, a medical laboratory engineer with a poster
“Bacterially Atypical Pneumonias” and S. Artl, medical laboratory
engineer with a lecture “Avidity Test in the Cytomegalovirus Infection
Diagnosis”.
The
Third Croatian Microbiologic Congress with International Participation
held in Porec on 4-7 October 2004 was organised by Croatian
Microbiological Society. Besides medical microbiologists, it assembled
pharmaceutical, veterinarian, molecular biology, food technology, and
food industry professionals. Whereas Dr Vera Katalinic‑Jankovic
attended as the Croatian Society for Medical Microbiology and
Parasitology representative, Dr. D. Brlek‑Gorski from Environmental
Health Service, CNIPH, with B. Hunjak, MSc, presented their report “Drug
Resistance of E. coli Isolates from Urines in Zagreb County”.
Subjects to single out for their importance to human microbiology were
demonstration of resistance to antibiotics by molecular methods, genetic
typing of multiresistant bacterial strains, mycotoxins and new
antimycotic test methods. This gathering has confirmed the role of
microbiology as a multidisciplinary science.
HEALTH ECOLOGY SERVICE
-
Head, Krunoslav Capak, MD,
MSc
A workshop “Handling
of Genetically Modified Organisms”, organised by the National
Institute for Nature Conservancy, took place on 22 October in Zagreb.
It was held as part of the UNEP-GEP project “Developing a Framework
for National Biosafety in Croatia”. The aim of the workshop was to
bring up to date the employees and professionals who are directly
involved in GM product decision-making and authorisation. It covered
several subjects: (i) GMO sampling, detection and assays in food and
feeds. There, reference was made to the legislation regulating this
area in the EU (Mrs. Maddalena Querci, European Commission – DG Joint
Research Centre, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection, gave a
lecture on this topic) (ii) assessing and managing the risks in
releasing GMOs to the environment and on the market. (iii) prescribed
administrative procedures for filing such applications in the EU
(lecture by Dr. Harry A. Kuiper, president of the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA) - GMO Department, and (iv) risk assessment and risk
management in closed systems (a topic presented by Dr Dietmar Vybiral,
chief inspector for this area for Austria, from the Federal Ministry
for Health and Women. He also reviewed the administrative procedures
required in this matter.
The above workshop also
included three practice workshops for inspectors, ministry
representatives, National Sanitary Inspectorate, GMO detection
laboratories, Seeding and Market Gardening Institute, as well as for
members of scientific committees on restrictions on GM product
utilisation and releasing to the environment in compliance with the
Nature Protection Act (Official Journal of the Republic of Croatia, OJRC,
162/03). Attending on behalf of CNIPH were Krunoslav Capak, MD, MSc,
the keynote speaker, Sanela Ljubenko Mihelj, a biotechnological
engineer, and Dr. Jelena Zafran Novak, a molecular biology engineer.
News (monthly) Croatian National
Institute of Public Health
ISSN 1333-0608
Editor-in-chief: Prof. Marija
Strnad, MD, MPH, PhD
Editor and co-ordinator: Mario Troselj, MD
Editorial Board: Bernard Kaic, MD; MSc Verica Kralj, MD; Jasminka
Tunukovic, MD; Andreja Barisin, MD
Translator: Vilim Crlenjak, BA
Graphic design: Mario Hemen, EE
Publisher: Croatian National Institute of Public Health
Rockefellerova 7, 10000 ZAGREB, CROATIA
Tel: 385 1 48 63 222
Fax: 385 1 46 83 002
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