European Immunization Week (EIW) is marked across Europe every year in the final week of April. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of immunisation for the general health and well-being of the European and wider population.
The food-borne infections listeriosis and shigatoxigenic Escherichia coli are increasing in the EU/EEA and were in 2022 at levels higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
For 2022, 29 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries reported 8 565 confirmed cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection.
Mumps is a viral infection first described by Hippocrates that in its classical form causes acute parotitis and, less frequently, orchitis, meningitis and pneumonia.
Despite good access to effective antibiotics, Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococci) is still a major cause of disease and death in both developing and developed countries. Pneumococci are the main cause of bacterial respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia, middle ear infection, and sinusitis, in all age groups.
In 2021, 1 567 cases of mumps were reported to ECDC by 27 European Union/European Economic Area(EU/EEA) Member States, with an overall notification rate of 0.4 cases per 100 000 population. This wassignificantly lower than the notification rates reported during the previous four years (range 1.7-4.2).
This issue of the ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) covers the period 19-25 March 2023 and includes updates on Marburg virus disease, iatrogenic botulism, COVID-19, Influenza, Group A streptococcal infection, cholera, poliomyelitis, measles, and extensively drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
For 2020, 28 countries reported 1 647 cases of hantavirus infection (0.4 cases per 100 000 population), mainly caused by Puumala virus (98%). During the period 2016–2020, the overall notification rate fluctuated between 0.4 and 1.0 cases per 100 00 population, with no obvious long-term trend.