The conclusions of the expert discussions on 31 July 2014 confirmed that conditions for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) continue to be met for wild poliovirus i.e. that the international spread of polio in 2014 continues to constitute an extraordinary event and a public health risk to other states for which a coordinated international response continues to be essential.
A recent article by Watanabe et al. in the Cell Host & Microbe journal describes an attempt to assess the risk of emergence of pandemic influenza viruses closely related to the 1918 influenza virus.
The final report of the FLURISK project by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) proposes a risk assessment framework to rank animal influenza strains according to their potential to infect humans.
Without baseline human immunity to the emergent avian influenza A(H7N9) virus, neuraminidase inhibitors are vital for controlling viral replication in severe infections.
In response to the recent events of wild-type poliovirus (WPV) circulation in Israel and a cluster of poliomyelitis cases in Syria, ECDC published two risk assessments for the EU/EEA on 26 September and 24 October 2013, respectively.