Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is an obligate human pathogen and an important cause of invasive bacterial infections in both children and adults, with the highest incidence among young children.
A joint study of the National Public Health Organization in Greece (NPHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) conducted in 15 Greek hospitals in 2022 sheds light on the rapid spread of carbapenemase-producing, highly drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type (ST) 39, following its initial documentation in a European-wide genomic survey in 2019.
The main aim of the genomic study described in this surveillance report was to determine the distribution of the highly drug-resistant clade of Klebsiella pneumoniae (sequence type (ST) 39 in Greek hospitals in 2022.
This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 12 - 18 November 2023 and includes updates on SARS-CoV-2 variant classification, West Nile virus, multistate outbreak of salmonella, and an overview of respiratory virus epidemiology in the EU/EEA.
From 1 January–24 October 2023, 335 laboratory-confirmed Salmonella Enteritidis ST11 cases belonging to three distinct microbiological clusters have been reported in 14 EU/EEA countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, affecting all age groups.
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.