This report shows information submitted by European Union Member States on the occurrence of zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks in 2005, analysed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Food Safety Authority.
With more than 32 000 cases, gonorrhoea was the second most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Europe in 2010. As data from the ECDC report Gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility surveillance in Europe 2010 illustrates, gonococci have become more resistant to common agents for treatment and show reduced susceptibility to newer antibiotics. “This indicates the risk that gonorrhoea may become an untreatable disease in the near future”, stresses ECDC Director Marc Sprenger.
This expert meeting was part of the ECDC project on chlamydia control in Europe and aimed to provide EU Member States with evidence-based information that is needed for the development and evaluation of chlamydia control strategies and to monitor progress in chlamydia control in Europe.
Universal screening of pregnant women is feasible and has led to immunisation in nearly all identified cases in Denmark. As a consequence of the study the National Board of Health has made universal HBsAg screening of pregnant women permanent in the country.
The authors describe the epidemiology of invasive Hib and nontype b H. influenzae infections in children <15 years of age in the United Kingdom from 1994 until 2008, and show that the resurgence in Hib disease during the years 1999-2003 did not affect the epidemiology of invasive nontype b H. influenzae disease in children, which provides further support against serotype replacement.
ECDC Director Marc Sprenger at the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) stressed the importance of the EU’s continuous commitment in the fight against hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
The first annual meeting of the European hepatitis B and C surveillance network takes place on 23-24 March 2011. Since 2009, ECDC has worked on preparing the enhanced surveillance of hepatitis B and C at EU/EEA level by establishing a network for hepatitis B and C surveillance and by carrying out a survey on prevention and surveillance activities in the Member States.