In the context of the ongoing outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) that affects by now citizens from 13 EU member states, it is crucial not only to align the efforts regarding investigation and control of the outbreak but also to share knowledge among practitioners across Europe on the patho-physiological and clinical characteristics of infection caused by this unusual epidemic strain, and review patient management options.
Today, the German authorities published a press release on the current Shiga toxin-producing E.coli outbreak. In their joint statement they recommended in particular to abstain from eating raw sprouts.
The 2st annual ELDSNet meeting will provide an opportunity to look back on the first year of European Legionnaires’ disease surveillance under ECDC coordination, and to discuss future challenges.
ECDC Director Marc Sprenger at the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) stressed the importance of the EU’s continuous commitment in the fight against hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
The authors retrospectively analyzed hepatitis A virus (HAV) seroprevalence in travellers who had been born and lived at least 1 year in a developing country, wanted to travel to a hepatitis A endemic area, and consulted at the vaccination centre of the Institut Pasteur of Paris between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010. HAV seroprevalence was 82.4 % for a population of 646 immigrants for whom data were available
The first annual meeting of the European hepatitis B and C surveillance network takes place on 23-24 March 2011. Since 2009, ECDC has worked on preparing the enhanced surveillance of hepatitis B and C at EU/EEA level by establishing a network for hepatitis B and C surveillance and by carrying out a survey on prevention and surveillance activities in the Member States.
ECDC and EFSA have just launched the annual report on zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks in the European Union for 2009. The report shows that Salmonella cases in humans fell by 17% in 2009, marking a decrease for the fifth consecutive year
First annual meeting of the network since it was transferred to ECDC in March 2010. Among the objectives of the meeting is to to present the epidemiological situation of diphtheria in Europe for 2009.
The emergence of cholera in Haiti once again reminds us of the ferocity with which infectious diseases can strike and of the complex interactions of emerging infectious diseases with social conditions, human migration, and the ecosystem.
Location:Hilton Am Stadtpark, Vienna, Austria
Organized by:International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID)
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and ECDC have published a joint opinion providing an overview of the latest available scientific information on possible links between Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) in animals and humans. This is the first comprehensive review of epidemiological and laboratory studies on possible links between TSEs in animals and humans at EU level.