On the occasion of World Hand Hygiene Day, 5th May, ECDC is releasing new web pages dedicated to the Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net) – a European network for HAI surveillance, coordinated by ECDC.
Travel patterns are an important source of information to be considered when assessing the risk of spread of infectious disease outbreaks. However, local and regional particularities need to be taken into account.
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.
ECDC organises a briefing on its preparedness and response activities, combined with a workshop ‘Detection and assessment of public health threats in the European Union’.
This will be the first joint meeting of the EARS-Net and HAI-Net Coordination groups. The meeting will address epidemiological, microbiological and technical aspects related to surveillance and reporting of antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections.
Most of the epidemiological studies are carried out on samples of the population. We thus need a sound knowledge of sampling methods, from sample selection to data analysis taking into account the sampling plan.