A collaborative study between ECDC, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Listeria monocytogenes* found a relatively high degree of dissemination of certain listeriosis bacteria in the food chain and in the human population across the European Union (EU).
Ready-to-eat salmon products, such as cold-smoked and marinated salmon, are the likely source of an outbreak of listeriosis that has affected Denmark, Germany and France since 2015.
More than half of the severe listeriosis cases in the European Union belong to clusters, many of which are not being picked up fast enough by the current surveillance system, suggests a new article published in Eurosurveillance. The large-scale study looked into listeriosis epidemiology through whole genome sequencing and found that this method, when implemented at EU-level, could lead to faster detection of multi-country outbreaks, saving up to 5 months of the investigations.
The rise in Europe of Candida auris infections, a difficult-to-control fungus, is of concern. The fungus spreads easily in healthcare settings, can cause invasive infections, and is also associated with resistance to multiple classes of anti-fungal medication.
Since the publication of the rapid risk assessment on a multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup IVb, multi-locus sequence type 6 (MLST 6) on 6 December 2017, four EU Member States reported seven new confirmed outbreak cases. Two of these cases were fatal.
ECDC monitors and reports on influenza transmission and virus circulation in Europe on a weekly basis throughout the flu season, in collaboration with WHO Regional Office for Europe, in the report Flu News Europe.
To support the annual World Health Organization (WHO) “SAVE LIVES: Clean your Hands” campaign, ECDC is launching two new pages of its directory of online resources on infection prevention and control.
ECDC gathered guidance documents on prevention and control of infection with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) available online, published by EU/EEA Member States, ECDC, other agencies and scientific societies.
The case definition and case finding algorithm have been prepared for surveillance purposes only and they will be adjusted as the current avian influenza A(H7N9) situation develops.
Influenza pandemics occur when new influenza viruses appear that transmit efficiently between humans and to which a substantial proportion of the population is susceptible