As of 1 February 2021, European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) Member States and EU-neighbouring countries reported 336 locally-acquired human cases of West Nile virus infections in 2020. The last case of this transmission season was reported by the Netherlands in week 47.
One of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Still, 2 094 AIDS cases were reported in the EU/EEA during 2019. This shows a significant problem with late diagnosis of HIV infection. Detecting HIV only years after the infection is one reason for on-going transmission in Europe. One in every four AIDS cases occurred long after HIV diagnosis, indicating insufficient linkage to HIV care, access to antiretroviral treatment and adherence support.
The number of people living with undiagnosed HIV is increasing in the WHO European Region. According to data published today by ECDC and the WHO/Europe, more than 136 000 people were newly diagnosed in 2019 – roughly 20% of these were diagnosed in the EU/EAA and 80% in the eastern part of the European Region. Every second HIV diagnosis (53%) happens at a late stage of the infection, when the immune system has already started to fail. This is a sign that testing strategies in the Region are not working properly to diagnose HIV early.
ECDC coordinates the enhanced surveillance for hepatitis A, B and C to help countries define epidemiological trends or transmission patterns among newly diagnosed cases.
World Hepatitis Day on 28 July provides an opportunity each year to increase the awareness and understanding of viral hepatitis.
Approximately four in five people living with hepatitis B and three out of four people with hepatitis C infection across the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) and the UK have not yet been diagnosed. This is a major obstacle on the way towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for health in 2030 as highlighted by ECDC on occasion of World Hepatitis Day.
The first report monitoring the progress towards the elimination of hepatitis B and C across European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) countries has been published by ECDC.
European Testing Week is a European campaign that encourages partner organisations, in community, health care and policy institutions, throughout Europe to unite for one week twice a year to increase testing efforts and promote awareness on the benefits of earlier hepatitis and HIV testing.
Each year on 5 May, the “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign takes place as part of a major global effort led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve hand hygiene in healthcare settings. The campaign mobilises people around the world to increase adherence to hand hygiene in all healthcare settings, thus protecting healthcare workers and patients from COVID-19 and healthcare-associated infections by other pathogens.
Nearly one in three foodborne outbreaks in the EU in 2018 were caused by Salmonella. This is one of the main findings of the annual report on trends and sources of zoonoses published today by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
As of 4 December 2019, European Union (EU) Member States and EU neighbouring countries reported 463 human infections in 2019. The last cases of this transmission season were reported by Italy in week 46.