This winter celebration usually coincides with the winter flu season. As transmission frequently happens among children, it is important to prepare carefully for such events during the flu season to prevent the spread of influenza virus among the particip
Vaccination helps to prevent diseases and, above all, saves lives. This was the message at an expert meeting on childhood immunisation organised by the Hungarian Presidency. ECDC Director Marc Sprenger stressed the importance of successful vaccination programmes across Europe and future challenges.
Each year in February WHO convenes a meeting with advisers from the WHO Influenza Collaborating Centres and Essential Reference laboratories in order to achieve consensus and advise WHO on the optimal formulation of seasonal influenza vaccines for the next influenza season.
Between 19 January and 17 February 2011, 10 cases of measles (eight laboratory-confirmed and two probable) were reported in Oslo, with the majority of cases in a mainly unvaccinated Somali community.
The journal Critical Care Medicine has recently published a supplement of open access articles on the experience in intensive care units during the 2009 pandemic of influenza.
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.