This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 6-12 December 2025 and includes updates on respiratory virus epidemiology in the EU/EEA, measles, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV), West Nile virus, and Marburg virus disease (MVD).
Respiratory viruses are on the rise across the EU/EEA: influenza activity is increasing rapidly and circulating widely, RSV is slowly increasing, while SARS-CoV-2 circulation continues to decrease.
This mid-term revision of ECDC’s ‘Long-term surveillance framework, 2021–2027’ was endorsed by the National Focal Points for Surveillance at their annual meeting on 7 October 2025.
The theme of EAAD 2025 was ‘From Resistance to Resilience: healthcare workers leading the change’, and it focused on the significant challenges faced by healthcare workers when addressing severe infections, particularly those caused by antimicrobial resistant organisms.
Between 6 September and 28 November 2025, 2,896 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5) virus detections were reported in domestic (442) and wild (2,454) birds in 29 countries in Europe.
2025 marks the final year of the EU Initiative on Health Security, during which ECDC and partner countries continued to strengthen regional cooperation and workforce capacities to tackle communicable diseases across EU enlargement and EU Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) partner countries.
SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses are significant public health threats with varying impacts on global health. SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, exhibits high transmissibility and recurrent waves driven by new variants.
