​In May 2013, Israel announced the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in the south of the country (1). As reported until mid-August, during the routine monitoring of sewage samples the virus had been found in 67 sewage samples from 24 sampling sites since February 2013.

​As of 3 October, wild-type poliovirus 1 (WPV1) was still being isolated in wastewater treatment plants across the country with some areas indicating an inconsistent or discontinued detection. However, no new sites in Israel with WPV1 in sewage were detected since the start of the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) immunisation campaign, according to personal communication from the Ministry of Health in Israel.

​Ten of the 22 acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases in the Syrian Arab Republic suspected of being caused by wild poliovirus have been confirmed as wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Epidemiological update: increase in reporting of human cases of A(H5N1) influenza, Egypt

This paper describes a small retrospective observational study of Israeli travellers presenting to a tropical medicine clinic with a history of prolonged (4 weeks), non-traumatic arthralgia or arthritis over a 5 year period.

Since last ECDC update on 17 May 2013, one probable and six new confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection have been reported.

ECDC is enhancing its surveillance activities this summer, watching for any infectious disease health events that could present a public health threat during the UEFA EURO 2012 football championship and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Twenty four new human cases of West Nile fever have been reported for the EU and 83 for its neighbourhood over the past week.

Twenty new human cases of West Nile fever have been reported for the EU and 33 for its neighbourhood over the past week.

Nine new human cases of West Nile fever have been reported in the EU and 27 in its neighbourhood over the past week.