Food Safety Researchers Organising Pathogenic E.coli Network Conference
Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc are organising a major international conference on pathogenic E. coli in Rome on the 6th and 7th of March entitled “E. coli: Pathogenicity, Virulence and Emerging Pathogenic Strains”.
International experts on pathogenic E. coli will give presentations focusing on the control and protection of public health. This conference is organised as part of the Pathogenic E. coli Network (PEN). PEN is an EU funded project aimed at integrating research and promoting collaboration between individuals and research centres.
E. coli contribute to an estimated thirty-five million deaths annually caused by diarrhoeal diseases. In recent years, several very dangerous types of these bacteria have been found in food and water in many countries including Ireland. One particular type, E. coli O157, has caused fatalities in Irish children in the past and the infection rates are currently on the increase.
This conference follows on from a very successful conference in Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association, UK in July 2007. The conference is to be held in the Istituo Superiore di Sanità in Rome and so far has attracted delegates from around the world including: the US, the UK, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Chile, Brazil and Israel. Further PEN meetings are to take place in Sweden, Norway and finally in AFRC, Dublin in 2009.
The PEN project is co-ordinated and managed by Declan Bolton and John O’Sullivan. Further details on the project are available on www.pen-project.eu
