Due to the concerning rise in sexually transmitted infection (STIs) transmission across Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is urging everyone to keep informed and practice safer sex as they leave for holidays, festivals, and travel this summer season.
Additional cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), a potentially life threatening tick-borne viral disease, have been reported in the EU/EEA, according to new data published by ECDC. Experts have warned of an increased risk of transmission on the continent.
The food-borne infections listeriosis and shigatoxigenic Escherichia coli are increasing in the EU/EEA and were in 2022 at levels higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Immediate health needs following earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria are mostly related to trauma and the disruption of healthcare, however, infectious disease threats may be concerning in the following two to four weeks.
Hepatitis A cases in 2021 were at their lowest levels since EU-level hepatitis A surveillance began in 2007, while five other food and waterborne diseases are rising towards pre-pandemic levels. The information is revealed in the Annual Epidemiological Report 2021, of which six chapters are published today by ECDC.
A number of European countries (including Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) indicate an increase seen during 2022, particularly since September 2022, in the number of cases of invasive Group A Streptococcus (iGAS) disease among children less than ten years of age.
Clusters and outbreaks of hepatitis A virus (HAV) genotype IB with four unique but closely related HAV sequences have been reported in six European Union (EU) countries and in the United Kingdom (UK).
Dutch health authorities have recently reported an increase of hepatitis A infections particularly affecting men who have sex with men. With the on-going Pride events across Europe, ECDC stresses the importance of ensuring hepatitis A vaccination, (advice for) safer sex and personal hygiene practices including washing hands and genital areas before and after sex to avoid infection.
Focusing on two recent public health emergencies related to tick-borne diseases in two EU countries, ECDC experts investigated the public health response and specifically the involvement of the communities.
ECDC will start monitoring disease distribution in the EU and collecting EU data through the epidemiological surveillance network comprising the European Commission, ECDC and national authorities for epidemiological surveillance.