Dengue viruses (DENV) include four serotypes (DENV-1 - DENV-4) that belong to the Flaviviridae family and cause the most important arthropod-borne viral infection of humans with about 100 million cases and 25,000 deaths annually. DENV causes classic Dengue (""""""""break-bone"""""""") fever (DF), and more severe and sometimes fatal dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)/dengue shock syndrome (DSS). In tropical and subtropical regions in the Americas, DF and DHF is considered one of the most serious health problems;moreover the demographic changes, the rapid urbanization and the travels around the world, has promoted the appearance of the disease in new geographic regions. In some Latin America countries, all four DENV serotypes are actively circulating. In the past 20 years, rapid epidemiological changes have manifested as a result of continuous population growth, uncontrolled and unplanned urbanization, increased intercountry travel and other social changes. All of these have created ideal conditions for increased transmission of multiple dengue virus serotypes in most of the tropical countries of the world. With this workshop, our goal is to provide an update of important multidisciplinary aspects of the Dengue, including: pathogenesis, prevention, control, treatment and diagnosis. In addition, in laboratory sessions, participants will learn important and improved techniques used for dengue diagnosis. Moreover, this workshop will provide an opportunity for scientific exchange between international institutions in developed countries and academic and regulatory authorities in Latin America.
This course is directed to professionals and Graduate students in the area of health and biomedical sciences, with emphasis on tropical diseases such as Dengue. We plan to run the course with a maximum of 100 participants in lecture sessions and 20 in practical sessions from Colombia and other Latin American countries. The main goal of the course is to provide, both in theoretical and practical sessions, spaces to discuss relevant topics in Dengue disease, such as pathogenesis, prevention, vector control, treatment and new methods for diagnosis. Participants will have the chance to acquire advanced knowledge from local and foreign speakers, which are experts in different areas of dengue research. The course will be split in two sessions: theoretical and practice. In theoretical session, participants will be hearing lectures about current topics in dengue research, and moreover, session will have spaces to forum in which participants could make questions and interact directly with so important lecturers. The theoretical activities will be allow to participants to acquire updated knowledge on topics such as pathogenesis, epidemiology, vector control, clinical management of dengue as well as new developments in dengue diagnostics by isolation of the virus, serology, or molecular diagnostic methods. Moreover, different initiatives of several private companies, government laboratories and academic institutions will be show, which have been working on the development of dengue vaccines and therapeutics for decades. Finally, in the course will be discussed the development of appropriate animal models to understand the pathogenesis of this disease and to evaluate drugs and vaccines before they could be tested in humans. In the other part, practical session is a relevant component of the course;this part involved the conventional and the new methods of dengue diagnosis and detection. Participants will have the opportunity to acquire technical skills to improve their diagnosis methods in their own labs, because diagnosis is a critical step in knowledge about dengue.
