Despite a dramatic improvement of the epidemiological situation in Guinea in 2015, the elimination of human transmission of the Ebola virus will require sustained efforts over the next few months. ECDC will continue deploying experts to Guinea to contribute to the field work related to surveillance and response activities, under the World Health Organization's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) umbrella.
ECDC and EFSA have assessed the risk to the EU/EEA posed by a fatal human case of Bacillus anthracis infection in Bulgaria and concluded that this event represents a negligible risk to other EU/EEA countries.
This is the 12th update of the rapid risk assessment on the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa. It provides the latest figures on cases for the week 14-21 June 2015, re-assesses the risk of importation of Ebola virus disease into the EU and discusses options for risk reduction.
Following an invitation from the Portuguese public health authorities, an ECDC team visited Lisbon to conduct a review of Portugal’s emergency preparedness systems for imported cases of viral haemorrhagic fever (Ebola).
As of 5 April 2015, WHO has reported 25 550 cases of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, including 10 587 deaths. The latest WHO report indicates that the number of new cases continues to decrease.
On March 3 2015, the European Union organised a high-level conference on the Ebola epidemic. The purpose was two-fold: first, to take stock of the ongoing emergency response and adapt it to the evolving situation on the ground, leading to eradication of the disease; second, to plan for the long term and support the recovery and resilience of the affected countries, including the development of their health systems.
In the second half of January 2015, WHO reported a significant drop in weekly cases – and the end of the spread of the disease – in all three currently affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone).