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                     TAMPERE AND CELIAC DISEASE
                     --------------------------
                     by Tom and Carolyn Sullivan

The name, Tampere, has been very prominent in many celiac disease
publications and communications for the last 12 to 18 months.  What is
it and what makes it so important to us?

From a geography standpoint, Tampere is either a city in the southwest
of Finland on the Scandinavian peninsula of Europe or the region
around the city.  With a population of 180,000, it is the third
largest city in Finland whose total population is only 5 million.  The
city has, however, two major universities, a university hospital and
numerous research centers and institutes of higher education.

In September 1996, Tampere was the center of the celiac world when it
hosted the 7th International Coeliac Congress. [ed. Note: U.S.
spelling is Celiac.  European is Coeliac.]  This congress, which
convenes only every fourth year, had papers and presentations from the
worlds leading celiac researchers and practitioners.  Summaries and
conclusions from some of the papers presented at the 1996 conference
were prepared by Jim Lyles (perhaps better for non-professionals) and
are available from him in printed form or on the internet.  (To get a
copy, send an e-mail message to [log in to unmask]
containing the text "GET CELIAC TAMPERE".)  As noted by Bill Elkus in
a posting to the CELIAC e-mail list on February 18, 1998, the full
proceedings from the 1996 Congress in Tampere are now available in
book form.  An order form for the book (perhaps only for profes-
sionals) is located at <http://www.uta.fi/~llmama/symp/index.htm>.
The cost is approximately $65 in US funds.

Tampere will again be the focus of the celiac world in July of this
year, 1998, when it hosts the 12th Annual Meeting of the Association
of European Coeliac Societies (AOECS) and an International Conference
on Changing Features of Coeliac Disease.  Once again the world's
leading celiac researchers and practitioners will meet to discuss our
disease and its diagnosis.

In addition, the November/December 1997 edition of the "Gluten-Free
Living" newsletter, edited and published by Ann Whelan in
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, had an extensive interview with Dr.
Markku Maki, head of the Celiac Disease Study Group in Tampere and
Chairman of The Finnish Coeliac Society.  Dr. Maki organized and ran
the 1996 Congress in Tampere and he and the Finnish Coeliac Society
are sponsoring this year's meeting and conference.  The interview with
Dr. Maki examined how patients in Finland are diagnosed and treated.
The concluding interview question, "What's your best advice to
American doctors." was answered in words that many of us have either
heard, spoken, or thought over the years.  Dr. Maki said, and I will
paraphrase, "Read the European medical journals because everything has
been said there for 20 years", and secondly, "believe the patient".
The newsletter containing the complete article as well as an article
on the organization and function of the Finnish Coeliac Society is
available in our newsletter library at any general meeting.

So stay tuned.  More will be heard from Tampere again this year as the
leaders in celiac research gather there to discuss how to recognize
the changing features of celiac disease.