An ECDC expert was in Zambia from 25 March to support in the response to the recent cholera outbreak as part of and funded by the ‘ECDC for Africa CDC’ project.
On this episode we are joined by Otilia Mårdh, Medical Epidemiologist at ECDC, to discuss the latest reports on sexually transmitted infections in Europe.
In a series of reports released by ECDC, a concerning rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) across Europe has been revealed indicating troubling trends and significant public health implications.
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.
Following a decline in notification rates in 2016, the number of gonorrhoea cases has gone up by 17% across the reporting EU/EEA countries with more than 89 000 confirmed diagnoses in 2017 – more than 240 cases a day.
ECDC has deployed an epidemiologist under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to assist in the emergency response in Mozambique. The mission will support the humanitarian response with public health assessments and epidemiological advice. ECDC is also producing a risk assessment on the health risks related to this event.
ECDC comment on the study 'Detection in the United Kingdom of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae FC428 clone, with ceftriaxone resistance and intermediate resistance to azithromycin, October to December 2018' by Eyre et al. in the Eurosurveillance edition of 7 March 2019.
Gonorrhoea is the second most commonly notified sexually transmitted infection across the EU/EEA countries with almost 500 000 reported cases between 2007 and 2016. The infection is treatable but Neisseria gonorrhoeae keep showing high levels of azithromycin resistance according to latest results of the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme.
The Carnival season will last from 1 to 9 March 2019. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1 million participants are expected, including many travellers from Europe
ECDC is looking to establish a scientific collaboration with an organisation which can perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, carry out related data analyses, share results of the analyses with ECDC and the participants of the European Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme as well as visualise the results.