EU-IBIS, a surveillance network for invasive meningococcal disease, continues to fulfil its aims to gather and improve epidemiological information about the disease, to integrate and analyse molecular data, and to form the focus for a wider collaboration.
This is an abridged version of the Surveillance of Bacterial Meningitis in Europe report 1999/2000. The following facts and figures were the most up to date available at the time of compiling this report.
Findings in this study confirmed the herd immunity effect of immunizing young children, since invasive meningococcal disease was not only reduced among vaccinees, but in all age groups.
With more than 32 000 cases, gonorrhoea was the second most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Europe in 2010. As data from the ECDC report Gonococcal antimicrobial susceptibility surveillance in Europe 2010 illustrates, gonococci have become more resistant to common agents for treatment and show reduced susceptibility to newer antibiotics. “This indicates the risk that gonorrhoea may become an untreatable disease in the near future”, stresses ECDC Director Marc Sprenger.
This expert meeting was part of the ECDC project on chlamydia control in Europe and aimed to provide EU Member States with evidence-based information that is needed for the development and evaluation of chlamydia control strategies and to monitor progress in chlamydia control in Europe.