This document is an update of the joint guidance that was published in 2011 by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).
Outsourced microbiological support to hospital-based surveillance of CDI aims to increase the capacity of laboratories in EU/EEA Member States to perform diagnostic practices with high diagnostic accuracy and acquire comparable typing data from C. difficile isolates.
This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 10-16 September 2023 and includes updates on COVID-19, diphtheria, West Nile virus, avian influenza, dengue, legionnaires' disease, the Rugby World Cup 2023, cutaneous Anthrax, pertussis, botulism and severe floods.
Prevalence data from sources such as population surveys can be a useful complement to case based surveillance data for hepatitis B. Case-based surveillance has limitations as most diagnosed cases are chronic in nature and detection of cases depends largely on testing practices. Prevalence data can therefore contribute towards a fuller understanding of the epidemiology of hepatitis B.
Anthrax continues to be uncommon in humans in the EU/EEA, with only a few cases reported every year. For 2021, four confirmed anthrax cases were reported by Bulgaria (one case) and Spain (three cases). Among 30 reporting EU/EEA countries, 27 notified zero cases.
This document provides an update on the safety of substances of human origin (SoHO) in relation to COVID-19. It reassesses the risk and proposes revised mitigation measures for preventing transmission through SoHO.