European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD) is a European health initiative coordinated by ECDC. It provides a platform and support for national campaigns on the prudent use of antibiotics in the EU/EEA and is marked each year across Europe on 18 November. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, EAAD will this year consist of a entirely digital campaign.
On 26 July ECDC published the Rapid Risk Assessment COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities in the EU/EEA in the context of current vaccine coverage, following several outbreaks that occurred in these settings during the past six months in several EU/EEA countries, resulting in some cases of severe disease and deaths.
Each year on 5 May, the “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign takes place as part of a major global effort led by the World Health Organization to mobilise people around the world to increase adherence to hand hygiene in all healthcare settings, thus protecting healthcare workers and patients from healthcare-associated infections caused by various pathogens.
ECDC has developed an operational guidance to support countries in their efforts and to harmonise the overall approach taken to PrEP implementation in the region.
The number of reported human cases of illness caused by Campylobacter and Salmonella bacteria across Europe appears to have stabilised over the past five years, according to the latest report on zoonotic diseases by EFSA and ECDC.
One of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Still, 2 094 AIDS cases were reported in the EU/EEA during 2019. This shows a significant problem with late diagnosis of HIV infection. Detecting HIV only years after the infection is one reason for on-going transmission in Europe. One in every four AIDS cases occurred long after HIV diagnosis, indicating insufficient linkage to HIV care, access to antiretroviral treatment and adherence support.
The number of people living with undiagnosed HIV is increasing in the WHO European Region. According to data published today by ECDC and the WHO/Europe, more than 136 000 people were newly diagnosed in 2019 – roughly 20% of these were diagnosed in the EU/EAA and 80% in the eastern part of the European Region. Every second HIV diagnosis (53%) happens at a late stage of the infection, when the immune system has already started to fail. This is a sign that testing strategies in the Region are not working properly to diagnose HIV early.
Rabies is a deadly disease and endemic in over 100 countries. It causes around 59,000 human deaths annually, the vast majority in Asia and Africa. There are safe and effective human vaccines for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. With a prompt and proper post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), exposed people have a survival rate close to 100%.
ECDC coordinates the enhanced surveillance for hepatitis A, B and C to help countries define epidemiological trends or transmission patterns among newly diagnosed cases.
World Hepatitis Day on 28 July provides an opportunity each year to increase the awareness and understanding of viral hepatitis.