This workshop enabled all to agree on the relevance of EPIS VPD to be used as a platform for the reporting and monitoring of measles outbreak in the EU, agree on the type of information to be reported, the nature of outbreaks to be notified and the further usage by ECDC (e.g. European Monthly Measles Monitoring1) and other Member States of data that will be shared through EPIS VPD by countries.
A meeting and a workshop on the ECDC point prevalence survey (PPS) of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals took take place in London on 5-6 March 2012.
Patient transfer between hospitals and in particular between countries, is a risk factor for the spread of bacteria that are resistant to last-line antibiotics. More specifically, for highly resistant bacteria, like carbapenamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE), the risk is heightened when patients are transferred from, or have received previous medical care in areas with high rates of bacterial resistance. These are conclusions from a risk assessment produced by ECDC that evaluated the risk to the citizens of Europe, of the spread of CPE through patient transfer between healthcare facilities, with special emphasis on cross-border transfer.
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.
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.