Italy is currently experiencing four clusters of autochthonous chikungunya cases in the cities of Anzio, Latina and Rome in the Lazio region, and the city of Guardavalle Marina in the Calabria region.
Two related clusters involving autochthonous transmission of chikungunya virus have been detected in the cities of Anzio and Rome. This rapid risk assessment provides detailed event background information and assesses the threat for the European Union.
This rapid risk assessment has been produced In the context of a cluster of four confirmed cases and one probable locally-acquired case of chikungunya in Var department, in southern France.
Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes to humans. The word ‘chikungunya’ means 'that which bends up', an allusion to the posture of the suffering patients. The most common symptom is joint pain.
Since April 2016, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom (Wales) have reported severe enterovirus infections associated with a variety of different strains. This rapid risk assessment considers the risk for EU/EEA countries related to severe enterovirus infections.
ECDC has published a rapid risk assessment due to a localised outbreak of neurological symptoms associated with enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) in Catalonia, Spain.
Most EV infections, including EV-A71, result in asymptomatic infection. Most symptomatic EV-A71 infections manifest as a self-limiting hand, foot and mouth disease and only a very small proportion of patients develop severe and life-threatening disease. The current outbreak is notable in terms of its magnitude and the severity of symptoms of the reported cases.
In November, France and the United Kingdom both reported sporadic cases of neurological disease involving enterovirus 68 (EV-D68) detection. As a result, ECDC has updated its rapid risk assessment on EV-D68, first triggered by reports from North America. To date, European acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)/enhanced enterovirus surveillance has not detected unusual clusters or unexpected trends.
Since mid-August 2014 local health authorities in the USA have notified the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of 691 laboratory-confirmed enterovirus 68 (EV-D68) infections.
The EU/EEA countries have a moderate risk of transmission of the Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68), although no increase of acute respiratory infections or hospital admissions has been reported so far this year, according to a new risk assessment published today by ECDC. The report also indicates that the likelihood for cases to be detected in EU/EEA is low because most countries do not routinely screen for EV-D68, and the disease is not notifiable.