ECDC experts deployed to Romania to support national investigations
ECDC experts provided the national response team in Romania with technical advice, guidance and tools for the epidemiological, environmental, and microbiological investigations of suspected Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS).
According to the Ministry of Health of Romania, 12 children, aged between 5-16 months in Arges county attended the District Paediatric Hospital in Bucharest for vomiting and diarrhoea, with or without dehydration, and suspected Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) between January 29 and 9 February. Three of the cases had died, three were under dialysis in ICU, five were admitted in a nephrology ward and one had been discharged. No causative agent had been identified yet.
Two ECDC experts joined the national response team and were collaborating under the guidance of the National Public Health institute and the Ministry of Health. The overall duration of the mission was expected to be around one week. The scope of ECDC’s mission was to provide technical support and scientific advice for the investigation and response to the outbreak of HUS in Romania. The overall responsibility for investigating and responding to the outbreak lied with the Romanian authorities.
ECDC funding regulation (Article 9.2) provides that ECDC might be requested by the Commission, the EU Member States, non-EU countries and international organisations to provide scientific advice or technical assistance in any field within its mission.
