The scale of the current influx of refugees is inevitably putting pressure on public health syste... more The scale of the current influx of refugees is inevitably putting pressure on public health systems in frontline receiving countries.
Main conclusions and options for response The current influx of refugees in Europe is increasing ... more Main conclusions and options for response The current influx of refugees in Europe is increasing the pressure on healthcare and public health systems in the transit and destination countries. Refugees are vulnerable to infectious diseases because of the specific circumstances under which they live and therefore they require special attention.
Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norwa... more Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norway (eight cases) and Scotland (15 cases), affecting people who inject drugs (PWID). All the reported cases used heroin, and it is assumed that the source of the infections is contaminated heroin. The batch or batches of the heroin suspected of being contaminated with the spores of Clostridium botulinum have so far not been identified. It is therefore not possible to estimate the volume and distribution of contaminated heroin. However, the clustering of the cases in time and place suggest that the 23 cases could be linked to heroin from a common contaminated batch.
Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus dise... more Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related deaths in LTCF residents represent 30–60% of all COVID-19 deaths in many European countries. This situation demands that countries implement local and national testing, infection prevention and control, and monitoring programmes for COVID-19 in LTCF in order to identify clusters early, decrease the spread within and between facilities and reduce the size and severity of outbreaks.
Source and date of request ECDC internal decision, 28 February 2014. Public health issue This doc... more Source and date of request ECDC internal decision, 28 February 2014. Public health issue This document aims to assess the risk associated with a first outbreak of measles on board a cruise ship while docked in port in Civitavecchia, Italy; it also proposes mitigation options, e.g. the containment of the disease.
2011 www.ecdc.europa.eu Annual epidemiological report Reporting on 2009 surveillance data and 201... more 2011 www.ecdc.europa.eu Annual epidemiological report Reporting on 2009 surveillance data and 2010 epidemic intelligence data 2011 Annual epidemiological report 2011 SURVEILLANCE REPORT
Pathogen reduction (PR) of selected blood components is a technology that has been adopted in pra... more Pathogen reduction (PR) of selected blood components is a technology that has been adopted in practice in various ways. Although they offer great advantages in improving the safety of the blood supply, these technologies have limitations which hinder their broader use, e.g. increased costs. In this context, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in co-operation with the Italian National Blood Centre, organised an expert consultation meeting to discuss the potential role of pathogen reduction technologies (PRT) as a blood safety intervention during outbreaks of infectious diseases for which (in most cases) laboratory screening of blood donations is not available. The meeting brought together 26 experts and representatives of national competent authorities for blood from thirteen European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) Member States (MS), Switzerland, the World Health Organization, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Health Care...
As of 16 May 2014, eleven cases (six from France and five from Germany) of uro-genital schistosom... more As of 16 May 2014, eleven cases (six from France and five from Germany) of uro-genital schistosomiasis have been reported. All cases were exposed to the same natural swimming area in southern Corsica without known exposure to fresh water in an endemic area of Schistosoma. This is the first locally acquired infections of Schistosoma haematobium in France. The disease is known to be very focal in its geographical distribution. Therefore, the risk of acquiring the infection exists only for residents and people visiting the affected place and having occupational or recreational activities in the river.
A multi-country cluster of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) involving 25 migrants has be... more A multi-country cluster of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) involving 25 migrants has been delineated by whole genome sequencing (WGS). All cases have a recent history of migration from Somalia (22 cases), Eritrea (2 cases) and Ethiopia (1 case). Cases have been reported by Germany (13 cases), Switzerland (8 cases), Austria (2 cases), Finland and Sweden (1 case each). A WGS analysis of the 25 cluster isolates supports the hypothesis that the cases are part of a chain of recent transmission likely to have taken place either in the country of origin or in a place along the migration route to the country of destination. Based on the currently available information, it is not possible as of yet to rule out that transmission occurred in an EU/EFTA country.
Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus dise... more Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related deaths in LTCF residents represent 30–60% of all COVID-19 deaths in many European countries. This situation demands that countries implement local and national testing, infection prevention and control, and monitoring programmes for COVID-19 in LTCF in order to identify clusters early, decrease the spread within and between facilities and reduce the size and severity of outbreaks.
Major epidemics, including some that qualify as pandemics, such as severe acute respiratory syndr... more Major epidemics, including some that qualify as pandemics, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), HIV, influenza A (H1N1)pdm/09 and most recently COVID-19, affect the lung. Tuberculosis (TB) remains the top infectious disease killer, but apart from syndemic TB/HIV little is known regarding the interaction of viral epidemics and pandemics with TB. The aim of this consensus-based document is to describe the effects of viral infections resulting in epidemics and pandemics that affect the lung (MERS, SARS, HIV, influenza A (H1N1)pdm/09 and COVID-19) and their interactions with TB. A search of the scientific literature was performed. A writing committee of international experts including the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Public Health Emergency (ECDC PHE) team, the World Association for Infectious Diseases and Immunological Disorders (WAidid), the Global Tuberculosis Network (GTN), and members of the European Societ...
Recurrent health emergencies threaten global health security. International Health Regulations (I... more Recurrent health emergencies threaten global health security. International Health Regulations (IHR) aim to prevent, detect and respond to such threats, through increase in national public health core capacities, but whether IHR core capacity implementation is necessary and sufficient has been contested. With a longitudinal study we relate changes in national IHR core capacities to changes in cross-border infectious disease threat events (IDTE) between 2010 and 2016, collected through epidemic intelligence at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). By combining all IHR core capacities into one composite measure we found that a 10% increase in the mean of this composite IHR core capacity to be associated with a 19% decrease (p = 0.017) in the incidence of cross-border IDTE in the EU. With respect to specific IHR core capacities, an individual increase in national legislation, policy & financing; coordination and communication with relevant sectors; surveillance; response; preparedness; risk communication; human resource capacity; or laboratory capacity was associated with a significant decrease in cross-border IDTE incidence. In contrast, our analysis showed that IHR core capacities relating to point-of-entry, zoonotic events or food safety were not associated with IDTE in the EU. Due to high internal correlations between core capacities, we conducted a principal component analysis which confirmed a 20% decrease in risk of IDTE for every 10% increase in the core capacity score (95% CI: 0.73, 0.88). Globally (EU excluded), a 10% increase in the mean of all IHR core capacities combined was associated with a 14% decrease (p = 0.077) in cross-border IDTE incidence. We provide quantitative evidence that improvements in IHR core capacities at country-level are associated with fewer cross-border IDTE in the EU, which may also hold true for other parts of the world.
Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norwa... more Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norway (eight cases) and Scotland (15 cases), affecting people who inject drugs (PWID). All the reported cases used heroin, and it is assumed that the source of the infections is contaminated heroin. The batch or batches of the heroin suspected of being contaminated with the spores of Clostridium botulinum have so far not been identified. It is therefore not possible to estimate the volume and distribution of contaminated heroin. However, the clustering of the cases in time and place suggest that the 23 cases could be linked to heroin from a common contaminated batch. People who inject drugs are known to be at risk of wound botulism. Guidance on drug treatment and prevention and control of infections among people who inject drugs has been issued by ECDC and the EMCDDA in 2011 [1]. No person-to-person transmission has ever been reported. The following measures are relevant for mitigating the r...
The scale of the current influx of refugees is inevitably putting pressure on public health syste... more The scale of the current influx of refugees is inevitably putting pressure on public health systems in frontline receiving countries.
Main conclusions and options for response The current influx of refugees in Europe is increasing ... more Main conclusions and options for response The current influx of refugees in Europe is increasing the pressure on healthcare and public health systems in the transit and destination countries. Refugees are vulnerable to infectious diseases because of the specific circumstances under which they live and therefore they require special attention.
Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norwa... more Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norway (eight cases) and Scotland (15 cases), affecting people who inject drugs (PWID). All the reported cases used heroin, and it is assumed that the source of the infections is contaminated heroin. The batch or batches of the heroin suspected of being contaminated with the spores of Clostridium botulinum have so far not been identified. It is therefore not possible to estimate the volume and distribution of contaminated heroin. However, the clustering of the cases in time and place suggest that the 23 cases could be linked to heroin from a common contaminated batch.
Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus dise... more Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related deaths in LTCF residents represent 30–60% of all COVID-19 deaths in many European countries. This situation demands that countries implement local and national testing, infection prevention and control, and monitoring programmes for COVID-19 in LTCF in order to identify clusters early, decrease the spread within and between facilities and reduce the size and severity of outbreaks.
Source and date of request ECDC internal decision, 28 February 2014. Public health issue This doc... more Source and date of request ECDC internal decision, 28 February 2014. Public health issue This document aims to assess the risk associated with a first outbreak of measles on board a cruise ship while docked in port in Civitavecchia, Italy; it also proposes mitigation options, e.g. the containment of the disease.
2011 www.ecdc.europa.eu Annual epidemiological report Reporting on 2009 surveillance data and 201... more 2011 www.ecdc.europa.eu Annual epidemiological report Reporting on 2009 surveillance data and 2010 epidemic intelligence data 2011 Annual epidemiological report 2011 SURVEILLANCE REPORT
Pathogen reduction (PR) of selected blood components is a technology that has been adopted in pra... more Pathogen reduction (PR) of selected blood components is a technology that has been adopted in practice in various ways. Although they offer great advantages in improving the safety of the blood supply, these technologies have limitations which hinder their broader use, e.g. increased costs. In this context, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in co-operation with the Italian National Blood Centre, organised an expert consultation meeting to discuss the potential role of pathogen reduction technologies (PRT) as a blood safety intervention during outbreaks of infectious diseases for which (in most cases) laboratory screening of blood donations is not available. The meeting brought together 26 experts and representatives of national competent authorities for blood from thirteen European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) Member States (MS), Switzerland, the World Health Organization, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Health Care...
As of 16 May 2014, eleven cases (six from France and five from Germany) of uro-genital schistosom... more As of 16 May 2014, eleven cases (six from France and five from Germany) of uro-genital schistosomiasis have been reported. All cases were exposed to the same natural swimming area in southern Corsica without known exposure to fresh water in an endemic area of Schistosoma. This is the first locally acquired infections of Schistosoma haematobium in France. The disease is known to be very focal in its geographical distribution. Therefore, the risk of acquiring the infection exists only for residents and people visiting the affected place and having occupational or recreational activities in the river.
A multi-country cluster of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) involving 25 migrants has be... more A multi-country cluster of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) involving 25 migrants has been delineated by whole genome sequencing (WGS). All cases have a recent history of migration from Somalia (22 cases), Eritrea (2 cases) and Ethiopia (1 case). Cases have been reported by Germany (13 cases), Switzerland (8 cases), Austria (2 cases), Finland and Sweden (1 case each). A WGS analysis of the 25 cluster isolates supports the hypothesis that the cases are part of a chain of recent transmission likely to have taken place either in the country of origin or in a place along the migration route to the country of destination. Based on the currently available information, it is not possible as of yet to rule out that transmission occurred in an EU/EFTA country.
Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus dise... more Residents in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a vulnerable population group. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-related deaths in LTCF residents represent 30–60% of all COVID-19 deaths in many European countries. This situation demands that countries implement local and national testing, infection prevention and control, and monitoring programmes for COVID-19 in LTCF in order to identify clusters early, decrease the spread within and between facilities and reduce the size and severity of outbreaks.
Major epidemics, including some that qualify as pandemics, such as severe acute respiratory syndr... more Major epidemics, including some that qualify as pandemics, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), HIV, influenza A (H1N1)pdm/09 and most recently COVID-19, affect the lung. Tuberculosis (TB) remains the top infectious disease killer, but apart from syndemic TB/HIV little is known regarding the interaction of viral epidemics and pandemics with TB. The aim of this consensus-based document is to describe the effects of viral infections resulting in epidemics and pandemics that affect the lung (MERS, SARS, HIV, influenza A (H1N1)pdm/09 and COVID-19) and their interactions with TB. A search of the scientific literature was performed. A writing committee of international experts including the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Public Health Emergency (ECDC PHE) team, the World Association for Infectious Diseases and Immunological Disorders (WAidid), the Global Tuberculosis Network (GTN), and members of the European Societ...
Recurrent health emergencies threaten global health security. International Health Regulations (I... more Recurrent health emergencies threaten global health security. International Health Regulations (IHR) aim to prevent, detect and respond to such threats, through increase in national public health core capacities, but whether IHR core capacity implementation is necessary and sufficient has been contested. With a longitudinal study we relate changes in national IHR core capacities to changes in cross-border infectious disease threat events (IDTE) between 2010 and 2016, collected through epidemic intelligence at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). By combining all IHR core capacities into one composite measure we found that a 10% increase in the mean of this composite IHR core capacity to be associated with a 19% decrease (p = 0.017) in the incidence of cross-border IDTE in the EU. With respect to specific IHR core capacities, an individual increase in national legislation, policy & financing; coordination and communication with relevant sectors; surveillance; response; preparedness; risk communication; human resource capacity; or laboratory capacity was associated with a significant decrease in cross-border IDTE incidence. In contrast, our analysis showed that IHR core capacities relating to point-of-entry, zoonotic events or food safety were not associated with IDTE in the EU. Due to high internal correlations between core capacities, we conducted a principal component analysis which confirmed a 20% decrease in risk of IDTE for every 10% increase in the core capacity score (95% CI: 0.73, 0.88). Globally (EU excluded), a 10% increase in the mean of all IHR core capacities combined was associated with a 14% decrease (p = 0.077) in cross-border IDTE incidence. We provide quantitative evidence that improvements in IHR core capacities at country-level are associated with fewer cross-border IDTE in the EU, which may also hold true for other parts of the world.
Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norwa... more Since December 2014, and as of 10 February 2015, 23 cases of botulism have been reported in Norway (eight cases) and Scotland (15 cases), affecting people who inject drugs (PWID). All the reported cases used heroin, and it is assumed that the source of the infections is contaminated heroin. The batch or batches of the heroin suspected of being contaminated with the spores of Clostridium botulinum have so far not been identified. It is therefore not possible to estimate the volume and distribution of contaminated heroin. However, the clustering of the cases in time and place suggest that the 23 cases could be linked to heroin from a common contaminated batch. People who inject drugs are known to be at risk of wound botulism. Guidance on drug treatment and prevention and control of infections among people who inject drugs has been issued by ECDC and the EMCDDA in 2011 [1]. No person-to-person transmission has ever been reported. The following measures are relevant for mitigating the r...
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