Due to the concerning rise in sexually transmitted infection (STIs) transmission across Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is urging everyone to keep informed and practice safer sex as they leave for holidays, festivals, and travel this summer season.
This document provides an overview of public health guidance aimed to ensure that the needs of refugees in relation to viral hepatitis are appropriately met, for all stages along the continuum of care from prevention through to treatment.
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.
European Testing Week is a European campaign that encourages partner organisations, in community, health care and policy institutions, throughout Europe to unite for one week twice a year to increase testing efforts and promote awareness on the benefits of earlier hepatitis and HIV testing.
On 3 August 2015, Spain notified a case of chikungunya virus infection in a resident of the city of Gandía in the autonomous community of Valencia. On 11 September 2015, authorities in Spain acknowledged that the case was a false positive. This rapid risk assessment reviews the later discarded chikungunya case reported from Spain without travel history to endemic areas and the risk of possible onwards transmission.
On the way towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for health, Europe has one important battle to take on: reducing the proportion of those living with undiagnosed HIV and viral hepatitis. Current status in the EU/EEA: one in seven people living with HIV are unaware of their infection, up to four out of 5 people living with hepatitis B and three out of four people with hepatitis C infection have not yet been diagnosed.