As of 9 December 2012, the Portuguese Ministry of Health has reported 2 050 cases of dengue infection from the Autonomous Region of Madeira. During the outbreak, 121 people have been hospitalised and no deaths or cases of severe dengue have been reported. Two patients remained in hospital as of 9 December 2012.
As of 4 November 1 148 cases of dengue infection have been reported, of which 517 were laboratory confirmed. The case definition has been revised and an automated surveillance system has been set up with the support from ECDC. The changes that were put in place meant that additional cases were identified retrospectively.
On 24 October 2012 the Portuguese Ministry of Public Health (Direcção-Geral da Saúde) confirmed 52 cases of dengue fever and 404 probable cases, compared to 37 confirmed and 262 probable cases in their last update of 17 October.
On 3 October, the Public Health Authority of Portugal (Direção-Geral da Saúde) reported two cases of dengue infection in patients residing in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal.
On 3 August 2012, a probable case of dengue infection was reported in a resident in west Greece (Agrinio). The 84 year old patient, who had severe underlying conditions and septicaemia, died on 30 August 2012.
The authors describe the epidemiology of invasive Hib and nontype b H. influenzae infections in children <15 years of age in the United Kingdom from 1994 until 2008, and show that the resurgence in Hib disease during the years 1999-2003 did not affect the epidemiology of invasive nontype b H. influenzae disease in children, which provides further support against serotype replacement.
ECDC Director Marc Sprenger at the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) stressed the importance of the EU’s continuous commitment in the fight against hepatitis B and hepatitis C.