Since June 2016, 16 European countries are experiencing hepatitis A outbreaks with 1 500 reported cases involving three separate clusters that mainly affect men who have sex with men. On the occasion of World Hepatitis Day, ECDC stresses the importance of hepatitis A vaccination and safe sex practices including the use of condoms to avoid new infections. As several EU/EEA countries experience hepatitis A vaccine shortages, targeting of vaccination to groups at higher risk of infection is suggested.
An estimated 4.7 million Europeans are living with chronic hepatitis B and almost 4 million (3.9) with chronic hepatitis C infection. However, large numbers of them are not even aware of their infection as they have not yet been tested and diagnosed.
This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 25 June - 1 July 2017, and includes updates on Salmonella Enteritidis, hepatitis A, measles, West Nile virus, avian influenza, Legionnaires' disease, chikungunya, Ebola virus and MERS.
Third update of a previous assessment on the ongoing transmission of hepatitis A virus infection mainly affecting men who have sex with men in EU/EEA countries.
Hepatitis A is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus, a small, non-enveloped hepatotropic virus classified in the genus Hepatovirus within the family Picornaviridae.
The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) is a weekly bulletin for epidemiologists and health professionals on active public health threats.
Hepatitis and other drug-related infectious diseases will be the focus of ‘Hepatitis week’, taking place at the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) in Lisbon from 12–16 June 2017. The initiative will bring together some 100 specialists from: EU Member States, candidate and potential candidate countries to the EU, as well as partner agencies, civil society and professional organisations.
Since the last ECDC rapid risk assessment, which was published on 24 February 2017, 10 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom (Public Health England and Health Protection Scotland) reported 387 new confirmed cases of hepatitis A, with one of the strains matching the three clusters currently circulating in the EU.