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.
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.
In 2019, 8 874 (7.4%) of patients staying in an intensive care unit (ICU) for more than two days presented with at least one ICU-acquired healthcare-associated infection (HAI) under surveillance (pneumonia, bloodstream infection, or urinary tract infection).
Between 2018 and 2020, nearly 20 000 surgical site infections (SSIs) were reported from a total of over 1.2 million surgical procedures in 13 EU/EEA countries participating in ECDC-coordinated SSI surveillance. Over 2 500 hospitals are part of this surveillance network.
In 2018, 9 860 (7.8%) of patients staying in an intensive care unit (ICU) for more than two days presented with at least one ICU-acquired healthcare-associated infection (HAI) under surveillance (pneumonia, bloodstream infection or urinary tract infection).
The 2016–2017 ECDC point prevalence survey was the second EU-wide point prevalence survey of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial use in acute care hospitals.