Associate Professor of Prophylaxis and Tropical Medicine

Division of Epidemiology and Travel Medicine
Institute for Specific Prophylaxis and Tropical Medicine
Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology
Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Phone: +43 (0)1 40160 - 38200

E-mail: herwig.kollaritsch@meduniwien.ac.at
Homepage: http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/tropenmedizin/

Research Interests
Clinical vaccinology, epidemiology of vaccine perventable disease, clinical vaccine development.

Epidemiology and Travel Medicine

One major aim of our group is the Epidemiological hospital-based surveillance of vaccine preventable diseases (VPD) in Austria (hospitalized cases in children, since 1997 and laboratory based since 1999):
Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Haemophilus B, Rotavirus, Pertussis. Monitoring of these diseases allows proof of concept of vaccination strategies in Austria and evaluates newly introduced vaccinations with respect to their impact on public health.
The division was able to position itself as one of the major study sites for phase I-IV clinical studies on vaccines. Major studies concerned development of a new vaccine against Japan Encephaltits (Phase III), phase II development of a new recombinant and multivalent Lyme vaccine (mv rOspA LB VACCINE) and a series of studies evaluating long term protection after TBE vaccination.
The center was also involved in prepandemic and pandemic influenza vaccine (H1N1 and H5N1) development, including around 3.000 valunteers. Many of these studies are ongoing.