The incidence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection has been steadily increasing across the countries of the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) with 21 081 cases reported in the EU/EEA over the last decade.
Hepatitis and other drug-related infectious diseases will be the focus of ‘Hepatitis week’, taking place at the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) in Lisbon from 12–16 June 2017. The initiative will bring together some 100 specialists from: EU Member States, candidate and potential candidate countries to the EU, as well as partner agencies, civil society and professional organisations.
Since the last ECDC rapid risk assessment, which was published on 24 February 2017, 10 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom (Public Health England and Health Protection Scotland) reported 387 new confirmed cases of hepatitis A, with one of the strains matching the three clusters currently circulating in the EU.
Tuberculosis (TB) has become the world’s leading single infectious disease killer, an unenviable title previously held by HIV/AIDS. It is therefore more important than ever to join forces against TB to successfully reach the goal of ending TB by 2030.
1 173 confirmed hepatitis A cases involving three separate clusters have been reported across 15 countries of the European Union since June 2016. Several EU countries have seen large increases in hepatitis A cases in 2017 compared to previous years, and these are mainly affecting men who have sex with men.
Chlamydia infection, campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, gonorrhoea and tuberculosis were the most commonly reported notifiable infectious diseases in the EU and EEA in 2014.
New data released by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO/Europe ahead of World TB Day show that an estimated 340 000 Europeans developed tuberculosis (TB) in 2014, corresponding to a rate of 37 cases per 100 000 population.
Over 1 000 patients are estimated to fall sick with tuberculosis (TB) every day across Europe – or more than 380 000 yearly – signalling that there is no room for complacency when it comes to TB prevention and control.
New data released today by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the WHO Regional Office for Europe ahead of World TB Day show that new tuberculosis cases and deaths in the 53 countries of the WHO European Region declined each year by 4.3% and 8.5% respectively between 2011 and 2015. However, vulnerable groups for TB infection, such as people living with HIV, prisoners and migrants, do not benefit from this overall trend. In particular, new TB/HIV co-infections increased by 40% over the same time period.