Preliminary Announcement for the Ninth EWDA Conference, 2010

‘The interface between wildlife diseases and public health’ 

The next EWDA conference will be held from 13 to 16 September 2010 on the island of Vlieland, The Netherlands. 

Vlieland is a sparsely populated island of 12 x 2 km that lies between the North Sea and the Wadden 
Sea. The Wadden Sea is famous for its rich flora and fauna, and is a major stopover location for migrating 
waterbirds. Its landscape is made up of dunes, salt meadows, mud flats, beaches, polders and forests. Cars  are forbidden except for the islanders, but the island is best explored by bicycle anyway. 

Zoonotic wildlife diseases threaten not only wild animals, but through these also domesticated animals and  humans. Emerging infectious diseases are known to arise for 75% from the animal reservoir, in which wildlife  plays an important role.

The conference central theme, ‘ The interface between wildlife diseases and public  health’, bridges animal and human health, and will therefore be of great interest for people from many different  disciplines, ranging from both public health professionals and wildlife diseases specialists, to ecologists, 
biologists, epidemiologists et cetera. 

The scientific committee is currently working on a programme that will cover different aspects of wildlife 
zoonotic diseases. Topics that will be addressed include the different pathogens (and their vectors) of present  and future interest for wildlife, domestic animals and humans, and also related topics such as climate change  and its impact on the ecology of certain species, human behaviour and altered risk for contact with reservoir/  vector species, the impact of import of exotic species and migration of wildlife species. 

Next to plenary sessions, different workshops will be organised. And of course, ample time for meeting 
friends and colleagues is scheduled, be it during the breaks or during excursions. Vlieland is the right place to  get a breath of really fresh air. After this conference, your heart will be free of troubles while your head will  surely be full of interesting new scientific knowledge. 

Please, note this date in your agenda and watch the EWDA website, further information and the possibility to  register and send your abstracts will follow soon! 
For tourist information you can look at: www.waddenzee.nl or www.vlieland.nl 

Opportunity for Workshops at EWDA 2010 

We have left Monday 13 September free for people who would like to organize workshops in conjunction 
with the EWDA conference. At the conference hotel, Hotel Seeduyn, which is perched on the dunes overlooking  the North Sea, we have reserved six rooms with a capacity ranging from 30 to 112 people. People who are interested in organizing a workshop should apply to Thijs Kuiken (t.kuiken@erasmusmc.nl).