More than half of the severe listeriosis cases in the European Union belong to clusters, many of which are not being picked up fast enough by the current surveillance system, suggests a new article published in Eurosurveillance. The large-scale study looked into listeriosis epidemiology through whole genome sequencing and found that this method, when implemented at EU-level, could lead to faster detection of multi-country outbreaks, saving up to 5 months of the investigations.
On the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, ECDC launched online prevalence database for hepatitis B and C which included data mainly based on peer-reviewed cross sectional studies from 2006 onwards.
People in prison experience a higher burden of communicable diseases such as hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV often linked to a history of injecting drug use.
In their joint public health Guidance published today, ECDC and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), present the evidence on active case finding as a key measure to diagnose communicable diseases early.
Since the publication of the joint ECDC-EFSA rapid outbreak assessment on a multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup IVb, multi-locus sequence type 6 (ST 6) on 22 March 2018, three EU Member States have reported nine new confirmed outbreak cases.
Frozen corn is the likely source of an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes which has affected five EU Member States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) since 2015. This is the conclusion of a rapid outbreak assessment published today by EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). As of 8 March 2018, 32 cases including six deaths had been reported.
Since the publication of the rapid risk assessment on a multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup IVb, multi-locus sequence type 6 (MLST 6) on 6 December 2017, four EU Member States reported seven new confirmed outbreak cases. Two of these cases were fatal.
Since August 2017, France and Italy have reported the autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus, respectively in the Var department, France and the Lazio region, Italy. The two events are involving strains from different origin and therefore are not related.
Since August 2017, France and Italy have reported the autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus, respectively in the Var department, France and the Lazio region, Italy. The two events are involving strains from different origin and therefore are not related.