Pertussis is an endemic disease in the EU/EEA and worldwide. Every three to five years, larger epidemics are expected even with high vaccination coverage.
In 2019, the hajj will take place between 9 and 14 August. The risk for EU/EEA citizens to become infected with communicable diseases during the 2019 hajj is considered low, thanks to the vaccination requirements for travelling to Makkah (Mecca) and the Saudi Arabian preparedness plans that address the management of health hazards during and after hajj.
On 31 August 2016 the autonomous Community of Madrid, Spain, reported two cases of infection with Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus. This document assesses the risk associated with the occurrence of two cases of Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever in Spain.
Illnesses caused by infectious diseases are common in children in schools or other childcare settings. Currently there is no common EU approach to the control of communicable diseases in schools or other childcare settings, and existing information is uncertain.
This Rapid Risk Assessment focuses on acellular pertussis-containing combination vaccines used in national vaccination programmes in the EU/EEA Member States.
Early in 2015, a shortage of acellular pertussis-containing vaccines was brought to the attention of ECDC. This risk assessment provides a detailed list of mitigation options available to Member States.
New and noteworthy in this update: the retrospective identification of novel coronavirus in biological samples from two fatal cases in Jordan (April 2012) and the results of a joint ECDC/WHO survey which confirms that EU/EEA Member States have an adequate capacity to detect novel coronavirus through their network of national reference laboratories: 18 of 30 in EU/EEA countries are capable of confirming positive screened samples by either ORF1b RT-PCR or other target RT-PCR assays with sequence analysis or whole-genome sequence analysis.
CDC updated risk assessment concludes that in the absence of evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission outside of household settings, the current facts still point towards a hypothesis of a zoonotic or environmental source with occasional transmission to exposed humans. WHO does not advise any travel or trade restrictions at this point for KSA or Qatar.