On 9 June, ECDC will be hosting a technical side-event to the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS 2011. The event will highlight how countries and regions with differing epidemiology could improve their responses to HIV/AIDS.
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.
In recent years human diseases due to mosquito-borne viruses were increasingly reported in Emilia-Romagna region (Italy), from the chikungunya virus in 2007 to the West Nile virus (WNV) in 2008. An extensive entomological survey was performed in 2009 to establish the presence and distribution of mosquito arboviruses in this region, with particular reference to flaviviruses.
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
The appearance of West Nile virus in New York in 1999 and the unprecedented panzootic that followed, have stimulated a major research effort in the western hemisphere and a new interest in the presence of this virus in the Old World. This review considers current understanding of the natural history of this pathogen, with particular regard to transmission in Europe.