The safe management and control of an infectious disease emergency (IDE) is early recognition, prompt isolation of the patient(s), and rapid alert of public health authorities. Training has an important role in this context and healthcare professionals, the group most likely to be initially exposed to an IDE and thus responsible for its recognition, should benefit from training that is both targeted and standardized. In September 2006 the National Institute for infectious diseases, L Spallanzani, Rome was awarded a grant from the European Commission for the training of front-line healthcare professionals from EU member states, candidate countries and EEA/EFTA countries. A course was developed in conjunction with experts from five European countries (France, Germany, Greece, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the main partner Italy) with the intention of creating a network of trained specialists which will facilitate communication and collaboration among European Countries in the challenging years to come.