The World Health Organization (WHO) recently issued temporary travel advice to polio-infected countries after declaring a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern' on polio.
Prompted by the increase of hantavirus activity in Europe observed in 2012, ECDC report reviewed the preventive measures and communication strategies in European countries.
The European Medicines Agency has recommended marketing authorisations for three new drugs used for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
Three European networks in TB surveillance, laboratory and prevention and control are coming together to discuss tuberculosis elimination. ECDC Director Marc Sprenger says TB in Europe needs to be taken seriously.
Unknown, undiagnosed, untreated - hepatitis affects millions of people around the world but as many infections are accompanied by no symptoms, the disease is often not diagnosed. Untreated chronic infection with hepatitis B and C may progress to liver cirrhosis or cancer.
While many European countries are progressing towards TB elimination, the target of less than 1 TB case/ 1,000,000 population is still far from being achieved everywhere. This was one of the messages presented today by ECDC Director Marc Sprenger during the joint session with WHO "Towards elimination of tuberculosis" at the European Respiratory Society annual congress.