An Introduction to the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory

The Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL) at Porton Down specialises in the diagnosis and management of rare, unusual, and high-consequence infectious diseases occurring in, or imported into, the UK. These include imported febrile illnesses, arthropod-borne infections such as dengue, West Nile virus and hantavirus infections, and bacterial diseases including Q fever, leptospirosis, and Lyme borreliosis. In this talk, Professor Janie Olver will introduce RIPL's role in public health and present a case study describing her work to update the estimate of Lyme disease incidence in England. This talk is part of the course on the Evidence-Based Health Care programme.