Pernille Ravn

Curriculum:

PR have since 1994 been working with new specific tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) infection. PR has during her residency at Hvidovre initiated a number of research projects involving improved dignosis of TB in children, health care workers, HIV positive and otherwise immunosuppressed patients in Denmark, Greenland, Nigeria, Tanzania and Guinea Bissau, in collaboration with Reference laboratory for Mycobacteriology  SSI, Dpt Infectious Diseases Rigshospitalet and Skejby, Cluster for International Sundhed University of Copenhagen and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

The overall goal is to improve diagnosis of TB in vulnerable groups. The objectives are to define indications and contraindications for the use of the new  TB specific IFN-g tests and develop new tools. In Denmark, the IFN-g tests seem very promising, whereas in low-income countries it is an expensive and technological requiring test and therefore there is a need to define when to use this test.

Together with PhD student Morten Ruhwald, we have developed an improved test for diagnosing TB infection. The test, (IP-10 test) is currently being validated in Denmark and Europe, a patent application has been filed.

PR is supervisor of Michala Vaaben Rose, PhD student at the University of Copenhagen. The goal of her PhD project is to identify methods that can improve diagnosis of TB in children co-infected with HIV in Tanzania. Her work is ongoing in Muhaza Tanzania.

PR is co-supervisor for PhD student Bolette Søborg who is studying how TB control can be improved in Greenland. In Greenland the incidence of TB is rapidly increasing and there is an urgent need for intervention. In this situation the new TB diagnostic tests are evaluated. 

PR is from 1/12 2007 employed at the Department for Infectious Diseases at Herlev University Hospital and she will be associated scientific counsellor for the research unit.

Curriculum Vitae

1989   MD University of Copenhagen, June 1989.

1997   Ph.d. University of Copenhagen

2006  Specialist in Infectious Diseases.

10 selecetd recent publications:

Hoff ST, Abebe M, Ravn P, Range N, Malenganisho W, Rodriques DS, Kallas EG, Soborg C, Mark Doherty T, Andersen P, Weldingh K. Evaluation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis--specific antibody responses in populations with different levels of exposure from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Brazil, and Denmark.
Clin Infect Dis. 2007 Sep 1;45(5):575-82.

Ruhwald M and Ravn P. Immune reconstitution syndrome in tuberculosis and HIV-co-infected patients: Th1 explosion or cytokine storm? AIDS. 2007 Apr 23;21(7):882-4.

Ruhwald M, Bjerregaard-Andersen M, Rabana P, Eugen Olsen, Kofoed K, and Ravn P. 2007 CXCL10 a novel marker for M.tuberculosis infection. Microbes and infection, in press (e-press).

Soborg B, Andersen AB, Larsen HK, Weldingh K, Andersen P, Kofoed K, Ravn P. Detecting a low prevalence of latent tuberculosis among health care workers in Denmark detected by M. tuberculosis specific IFN-gamma whole-blood test.Scand J Infect Dis. 2007;39(6-7):554-9.

Seersholm N, Seefeldt T, Smedegaard LA, Andersen ÅB, Ravn P, Munkholm P, Bang B. Retningslinier for undersøgelse for latent og aktiv tuberkulose forud for behandling med TNF-a hæmmere. 2006. Tilgængelig på specialeselskabernes hjemmeside.

Ostrowski SR., Ravn P., Hoyer-Hansen G., Ullum H., Andersen ÅB. Elevated levels of soluble urokinase receptors in serum from mycobacteria infected patients. Still looking for a marker of treatment efficacy.  2006 , in press Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Hiroshi Nakaoka, Lovett Lawson, S. Bertel Squire, Brian Coulter, Pernille Ravn, Inger Brock, C. Anthony Hart, and Luis E. Cuevas. Risk for Tuberculosis among Children. Emerging Infectious Diseases Volume 12, Number 9-September 2006

Brock I, Ruhwald M, Lundgren B, Westh H, Mathiesen LR, Ravn P. Latent Tuberculosis in HIV positive, diagnosed by the M. Tuberculosis Specific Interferon-γ test. Respiratory Research 2006, 7:56 (1 April 2006)

Ravn P., Brock, I, Andersen, P and Weldingh K.  En mulig afløser til Mantoux test efter 97 år. Ugeskrift for læger 2005, Aug 8;167(32):2905-6.

Ravn P, Munk ME, Andersen AB, Lundgren B, Lundgren JD, Nielsen LN, Kok-Jensen A, Andersen P, Weldingh K. Prospective evaluation of a whole-blood test using Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antigens ESAT-6 and CFP-10 for diagnosis of active tuberculosis. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2005 Apr;12(4):491-6