More than half of the severe listeriosis cases in the European Union belong to clusters, many of which are not being picked up fast enough by the current surveillance system, suggests a new article published in Eurosurveillance. The large-scale study looked into listeriosis epidemiology through whole genome sequencing and found that this method, when implemented at EU-level, could lead to faster detection of multi-country outbreaks, saving up to 5 months of the investigations.
An unusual early start and high number of locally acquired West Nile virus infections has been observed this year. ECDC assesses the epidemiological situation and the public health risk to the EU, in a rapid risk assessment published today.
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.
Vector sampling protocols outlining the recommended methods for collecting vectors have been issued today by ECDC and EFSA, to support entomologists and public-health professionals in Europe. It is a first attempt to summarise best-practices in terms of methods and strategies for sampling mosquitoes, sandflies, biting midges and ticks.
Since the beginning of 2018 and as of 14 May, 2 980 autochthonous cases of dengue have been reported in Réunion. The main areas affected are in the western part of the island. The most prevalent serotype among dengue cases is DENV-2 and the main vector implicated in the outbreak is Aedes albopictus.
Since the publication of the joint ECDC-EFSA rapid outbreak assessment on a multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup IVb, multi-locus sequence type 6 (ST 6) on 22 March 2018, three EU Member States have reported nine new confirmed outbreak cases.
Frozen corn is the likely source of an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes which has affected five EU Member States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) since 2015. This is the conclusion of a rapid outbreak assessment published today by EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). As of 8 March 2018, 32 cases including six deaths had been reported.