Insight www.ecdc.europa.eu Minister Ulla Schmidt & Director Zsuzsanna Jakab In this issue: present ECDC’s first report on communicable disease 1. Minister Ulla Schmidt epidemiology in the EU & Director Zsuzsanna Jakab present On 7 June 2007 Minister Ulla Schmidt, ropean data sets in order to maximise ECDC’s first report Germany’s Federal Minister for Health, the return on investment made by the on communicable and ECDC’s Director Zsuzsanna Jakab Member States and EU institutions. The disease epidemiology presented the first ever comprehensive report notes that important challenges in the EU report on the multiple threats posed by remain relating to disease surveillance. communicable diseases in the EU. The 2. Editorial by Director event took place at the European Cen- Zsuzsanna Jakab tre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm and was organised Chikungunya fever: in partnership with the European Com- ECDC-led team visits mission and the German Presidency Italy of the EU. The report contains a large volume of epidemiological data on 49 ECDC external communicable diseases (together with evaluation launched healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance) collected from 3. Four European 25 Member States, Norway and Iceland networks’ for 2005. coordination activities to be The incidence of most of the diseases managed at ECDC looked at in the report has either fallen From right to left: German’s Health Minister Ulla Schmidt, or remained stable over the past decade. ECDC Director Zsuzsanna Jakab, Head of Health Threat Unit Evaluation and Not all the trends are positive though. John F. Ryan (EC, DG Sanco) and Ben Duncan (ECDC) assessment of EU- For example, incidence of campylobacter wide surveillance has risen in recent years. The key areas networks of concern highlighted in ECDC’s report Data on communicable diseases are are: 1) Rising rates of healthcare-asso- not always collected using consistent 4. A new Unit at ciated infections, especially those due methodology across all Member States, ECDC: Health to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, 2) the making it difficult to draw comparisons Communication Unit continued threat from tuberculosis in between countries. To show the vari- Europe, 3) the threat posed by influenza ance in surveillance systems, the report Eurosurveillance has and pneumococcal infections and provides the results of a survey on the joined ECDC: the first 4) rising rates of HIV infection. characteristics of surveillance systems six months conducted in each country for each dis- A summary of the report has been dis- ease. In response to the findings of the 5. Missions & Meetings tributed to policy makers, scientists and report, ECDC will work with the Member other interested parties. The full report States and the European Commission to 6. In the loop: ECDC’s is available on ECDC’s website and print streamline and improve the generation disease projects copies can be ordered from ECDC1. ECDC of national disease surveillance data. acknowledges and appreciates input 7. Getting ready: the received from the Member States’ sur- For more information: training programme veillance staff and the Dedicated Sur- http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ page veillance Networks. ECDC’s analysis is ew/2007/070607.asp#2 largely built on the existing EU and Eu- http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/pdf/Epi_ 8. Upcoming events 1 Please contact our publications team: report_2007.pdf [email protected] Publications September 2007 1/8 Insight ECDC Insight is a newsletter published by the European Cen- tre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm. Any Editorial by Item may be reproduced for personal use or non-commercial purposes provided the source is aknowledged. Director Zsuzsanna Jakab For free subscriptions, please specify your requirements via e- mail: [email protected] Welcome to the first edition of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC Insight! Our aim with this Tomtebodavägen 11 A, SE-17183 Stockholm - Sweden newsletter is to keep our stake- Tel. +46 8 58 0000, [email protected] holders briefed about ECDC’s ac- Official publisher : ECDC • Director: Ms Z. Jakab • Editor: Ms I. tivities and letting you know what Hubert • Photo credits: ECDC pp. 1, 2, 3; Dr D. Coulombier: p. 2, we are doing. I thought it would Dr P. Kreidl and Dr C. Varela: p. 5, Dr A. Bosman: p. 5-6. Printed also be interesting to say a bit in Sweden • ISSN: 1830-7965 • CATALOGUE NUMBER: TQ-AF- about who we are. 07-001-EN-C • Printed on chlorine-free paper • © European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC’s mandate is clearly spelled out in our founding regulation ECDC external evaluation (851/2004). The main objective of launched the Centre is to strengthen the de- Considering these numbers, I fences of the EU against commu- would say that the growth has ECDC will have its first external nicable diseases. We are an EU been remarkably smooth thanks evaluation according to article agency operating in close partner- to the flexibility and good work of 31 of the founding regulation ship with the EU institutions and the administration and the four (851/2004). Following an open call other public health institutions technical units: the Scientific Ad- for tender, Ecorys was selected like WHO. vice Unit (SAU), the Surveillance to undertake this task. The main Unit (SUN), the Preparedness and objectives are to assess ECDC’s While ECDC has still not reached Response Unit (PRU) and finally past achievements; to explore adulthood, it is becoming a strong the new Health Communication the possibility of extending the European teenager! I can very well Unit (HCU – see page 4). scope of the Centre’s mission be- remember the time when we start- yond infectious diseases to other ed in May 2005 with a handful of Apart from the growth in num- EU public health activities; and colleagues. The key challenge was bers, I am glad to see our Agency to set the timing for further such to kick off the recruitment process truly becoming European. Today reviews. The external evaluation so that we could build up a critical 20 nationalities work together in will be carried out over a period mass of staff in order to quickly ECDC. Gender equity is a key chal- of around 12 months involving all move on our overall programmes. lenge, with the balance currently ECDC stakeholders. The final re- in favour of women! port from the external evaluator As of September 2007, ECDC has to the ECDC Management Board well over one hundred staff mem- Therefore, I shall confess that I is expected in summer 2008 and bers. In 2006 we welcomed around am proud to see the beautiful Eu- conclusions and recommenda- 70 new colleagues, a figure that ropean and human equilibrium tions from the Board to the Com- will be exceeded in 2007. ECDC is becoming. mission by end of 2008. Chikungunya fever: ECDC-led team visits Italy At the invitation of Italy, a joint for the Ravenna outbreak – is mission, led by ECDC and includ- present in some southern Euro- ing experts from WHO and France, pean countries. Therefore, the was sent to Ravenna in mid-Sep- ECDC team went to Ravenna to tember to examine the implica- get a better understanding of the tions of the chikungunya outbreak risk facing other EU countries. The for other EU countries. ECDC team also offered expertise from other EU countries to the Ital- This mission to Ravenna con- ian authorities, such as insights firmed ECDC’s assessment per- gained by the French authorities formed in March 2006. It stressed in tackling the chikungunya out- the risk that mosquito-borne break in Réunion in 2005 –2006. outbreaks of chikungunya can Charles Jeannin and Jean-Claude Desenc- happen in Europe. The Aedes al- los looking at a mosquito egg trap in the For more information: bopictus mosquito – the vector village of the original case of Chikungunya www.ecdc.europa.eu fever September 2007 2/8 Insight Four European networks’ coordination activities to be managed at ECDC Enter-NET: from 1 October nual workshop held in Rome on 2007 30–31 May 2007 was the occa- Hub visits performed by August 2007 sion to inform gatekeepers about Enter-net is the international ECDC’s planned approach for the 3–5 October 2006 BSN surveillance network for Campy- transition period. 9–10 October 2006 ESAC lobacter, Salmonella and Vero- 6 November 2006 EUCAST toxigenic Eschericia coli (VTEC) Countries covered by the Neis- 19–20 December 2006 DIVINE infections. seria meningitidis sub-network 28–30 March 2007 EuroCJD are 25 Member States (Romania 3–5 April 2007 EWGLINET While the transition has been dis- and Bulgaria not yet covered) 5–6 April 2007 EARSS cussed during the network’s an- plus Switzerland and Iceland. The 11–13 April 2007 EU-IBIS nual meeting held in Vienna in same 27 countries as well as Is- 17–19 April 2007 ENIVD July 2007, an upcoming workshop rael belong to the Haemophilus 23–26 April 2007 EISS will be scheduled at ECDC in early influenzae sub-network. 28–30 May 2007 IPSE winter to offer an opportunity for 30 May–1 June 2007 EuroTB network members to provide in- For more information: 12–13 July 2007 Enter-net put and recommendations for fu- http://www.euibis.org/index.htm 23–26 July 2007 EuroHIV ture ECDC-directed activities. EuroHIV: from 1 January 2008 Steering group meetings Enter-net, a continuation of the Salm-Net surveillance network Since February 2007 ECDC has 29 November 2006 in ECDC (1994–97), was hosted by the been working with the French In- 10 January 2007 Teleconference Health Protection Agency of Eng- stitut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS) to 28 May 2007 in ECDC land and Wales.