The specialist network Infections of the NUM study network has founded a new working group on post-infectious diseases. It pools expertise on mechanisms of disease development (pathomechanisms) and clinical pictures that frequently arise as a result of infectious diseases. The working group ties in with the National Decade against Postinfectious Diseases announced by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR ).
The aim of the working group is to further develop the existing structures of the Infection Network in a targeted manner in order to systematically investigate post-infectious diseases in the long term, develop new forms of prevention and treatment and test them as part of interventional studies. The plan is to add a module for post-infectious diseases to the basic cohort of the specialist network, in which patients have so far been recorded primarily during the acute infection. This module enables structured follow-up monitoring. In this way, possible long-term consequences can be documented and causal relationships between the acute infection and post-infectious diseases can be analysed.
By combining clinical data, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and biosamples, incidences, risk factors and biomarkers will be identified and potential therapeutic and preventive approaches derived.In a second step, appropriate preventive and therapeutic interventions are to be tested using the existing NUM infrastructure for clinical studies.
A kick-off meeting to further develop the content is in preparation and will be widely publicised in the network. The working group is expressly open to further interested colleagues from various specialist disciplines and is intended to grow on an interdisciplinary and cross-location basis. If you have any questions, please contact
snid@sn.netzwerk-universitaetsmedizin.de
About the NUM Study Network (NUM SN) and its specialist networks in the Network University Medicine (NUM)
The NUM Study Network is a central initiative that was created as a specialised Reseach Infrastructure within the Network University Medicine (NUM). For the first time, all 37 German university medical centres are carrying out large interdisciplinary clinical research projects together in the NUM. The aim of the NUM study network is to optimise processes, network stakeholders and accelerate clinical and clinical-epidemiological research in Germany. The three specialist networks in the NUM study network collect standardised clinical research data and biosamples in order to establish a cross-site data pool in the respective specialist area.