EuroTravNet

The European Travel and Tropical Medicine Network

The European Travel and Tropical Medicine Network (EuroTravNet, registered by the University of Aix Marseille at the “Institut National de la propriété intelectuelle” under n° 14 4 062 736) is a European sub-network of the GeoSentinel Network.

The goal of EuroTravNet is to work collaboratively as European GeoSentinel sites, to support the detection, verification, assessment, and communication of travel-associated illness with international travellers and migrants as sentinels of infection. To this end, EuroTravNet works with experts in the fields of travel health, tropical medicine, infectious disease, and the clinical diagnosis of the returned traveller. European sites are essential contributors to GeoSentinel’s Mission Statement by working collaboratively with clinical and research experts worldwide and to improve the understanding of disease transmission through surveillance, response and communication. EuroTravNet has been pivotal in several outbreak analyses and the Network took the lead in important publications that are used as an evidence base for decision making in the realm of travel-related, infectious disease.

In 2008, EuroTravNet was created by European ISTM and Geosentinel members, led by Prof. Philippe Parola, and funded through a competitive tender, awarded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). After the ECDC tender period ended (in 2012), EuroTravNet received a grant from the Instituts Hospitalo-Universitaire (IHU) Méditerranée Infection FoundationI in Marseille to support data entry structure and expansion of EU GeoSentinel sites.

The Core sites of EuroTravNet are member sites of GeoSentinel. Membership in EuroTravNet, either as a Core Site or as an Affiliate Member, is automatically included with your membership as a GeoSentinel Site or GeoSentinel Affiliate Member. For more information on GeoSentinel membership and to access membership applications, please visit the GeoSentinel home page or contact the GeoSentinel program manager via geosentinel@geosentinel.org.

Leadership

Patricia Schlagenhauf, the EuroTravNet Lead and Liaison, represents EuroTravNet’s interests within the GeoSentinel network and in other collaborations.

In this leadership and ambassadorial function, she has ambitious goals and intends to ignite European enthusiasm for the enhanced surveillance and research projects and to inspire and mentor younger ETN members. She aims to increase the geographic representation on ETN/GeoSentinel in Europe with a particular focus on Eastern and Central Europe by utilizing and expanding her existing networks of contacts in these areas. Another goal is to focus on new types of travellers and migrant streams that are often missed by traditional large clinics and to harness the untapped potential of using the traveller as a source of data for “bottom-up” surveillance.

With past, recent and future spillover from the animal kingdom, she will also push for research in a “One Health” domain, linking ETN Sites and EU networks for joint projects on travel and microbial movement in both humans and animals.

Steering Committee

Dr Philippe GAUTRET (Project Director), Marseille
Pr. Patricia SCHLAGENHAUF (Lead and Liaison), Zürich
Dr. Marta DIAZ MENENDEZ, Madrid
Dr Vanessa FIELD, London
Pr. Martin GROBUSCH, Amsterdam
Dr Corneliu POPESCU, Bucharest
Pr Eskild PETERSEN, Aarhus

Special Advisor (Non-Steering Committee)

Pr. Philippe PAROLA, Marseille