For 2021, 6 534 confirmed cases of STEC infection were reported by 30 EU/EEA countries (Table 1). Twenty-seven countries reported at least two confirmed cases, and three countries reported no cases. The EU/EEA notification rate was 2.2 cases per 100 000 population, representing a 37.5% increase compared with the previous year.
Hepatitis A cases in 2021 were at their lowest levels since EU-level hepatitis A surveillance began in 2007, while five other food and waterborne diseases are rising towards pre-pandemic levels. The information is revealed in the Annual Epidemiological Report 2021, of which six chapters are published today by ECDC.
For 2021, 6 876 confirmed cases of yersiniosis (caused by Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis) were reported by 28 EU/EEA countries with an overall rate of 1.9 cases per 100 000 population. This represented an increase of 11.8% on 2020 and the pre-pandemic period (2017−2019). As in previous years, Germany accounted for the highest number of cases, followed by France. These two countries accounted for 49% of all confirmed yersiniosis cases in the EU/EEA. Denmark had the highest notification rate of 7.8 cases per 100 000 population, followed by Finland, Lithuania and Czechia (Table 1, Figure 1).
Thirty-three percent of 1 649 yersiniosis cases with known information were hospitalised. No deaths were reported among the 3 659 cases with known outcome.
This report of the European Food Safety Authority and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control presents the results of zoonoses monitoring and surveillance activities carried out in 2021 in 27 MSs, the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) and nine non-MSs.
For 2020, 28 EU/EEA countries reported 4 824 confirmed cases of Shiga toxin -producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection. The overall notification rate was 1.6 cases per 100 000 population. The highest notification rates were reported in Ireland, Malta, Denmark, and Norway. The EU/EEA notification rate decreased notably in 2020 compared with 2016-2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.