EuroGentest extends genetic patients information leaflet series by popular demand

Professionals and patient groups across Europe welcome continuation of pioneering work by EU-funded project

Following the major success of its initial 11 patient information leaflets on key topics in genetic disease and genetic testing, EuroGentest, an EU-funded Network of Excellence, has embarked upon a new series. Professionals and patient groups across Europe have identified the need for guidance and information on specific topics such as predictive testing, carrier testing as well as a generic “What Happens in the Genetics Laboratory” guide.

Project manager Celine Lewis has been delighted by the reaction to leaflets: “It was a real challenge to produce the first 11 leaflets in a format that could be used as universally as possible. We consulted widely and received a tremendous amount of useful feedback. Once published we were then innundated by requests for language versions from not just the EU, but further afield. Fortunately, professionals again responded wonderfully to our requests for help with translations. For example we have just completed Farsi and Croatian versions and the leaflets are currently being translated into Russian. However we were also soon getting request to expand the topics. We started planning last autumn and four new leaflets will soon be available in English with translations scheduled for completion by the end of the year.”

Statistics show that nearly 20% of all traffic on the EuroGentest website has been related to the leaflets, with Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish being the most popular languages. In December alone the leaflets were viewed 3,308 times.

All of the leaflets can be downloaded freely from the EuroGentest website – www.eurogentest.org/patients