An increased reporting of shigellosis cases, mainly caused by Shigella sonnei, among travellers returning from Cabo Verde has been ongoing in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA), the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) since September 2022. This outbreak evolved rapidly during November and December 2022.
This document assesses the risk of further spread of S. sonnei amongst MSM and in the broader population in EU/EEA countries, resulting from the current increase in extensively-drug resistant S. sonnei infections.
ECDC has published a rapid risk assessment due to a localised outbreak of neurological symptoms associated with enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) in Catalonia, Spain.
Most EV infections, including EV-A71, result in asymptomatic infection. Most symptomatic EV-A71 infections manifest as a self-limiting hand, foot and mouth disease and only a very small proportion of patients develop severe and life-threatening disease. The current outbreak is notable in terms of its magnitude and the severity of symptoms of the reported cases.
Illnesses caused by infectious diseases are common in children in schools or other childcare settings. Currently there is no common EU approach to the control of communicable diseases in schools or other childcare settings, and existing information is uncertain.
The occurrence of shigellosis among refugees is not unexpected because shigellosis is endemic in the countries they originate from, as well as in some of the countries they travel through.
The recent floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia caused substantial damage. Following the floods, there is a risk of increased transmission of vector-borne infections to the populations.