Seasonal influenza is a respiratory infectious disease that spreads globally through annual epidemics and occasional pandemics. Vaccination is the most effective means for preventing influenza infection. However, the effectiveness of influenza vaccines varies to some degree from season to...

Influenza is a disease of public health importance due to the substantial seasonal morbidity and mortality and the high pandemic potential of its aetiologic agents, influenza viruses. Diagnosis of influenza is mainly based on laboratory testing (i.e. molecular testing) of nasopharyngeal samples....

This protocol presents a common updated methodology to estimate vaccine effectiveness (VE) for COVID-19, using established health data registries in participating European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries. This work is performed within the Vaccine Effectiveness, Burden and...

The end of 2019 saw the emergence of a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome: coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of December 2023, eight vaccines (Comirnaty, Spikevax, Vaxzevria, Jcovden Valneva, Nuvaxovid, VidPrevtyn, and Bimervax) have been...

The emergence and spread of highly-resistant bacteria, especially those resistant to 'last-line' antibiotics, such as carbapenems and colistin, is a grave public health concern and a threat to patient safety and economies in Europe and globally. When last-line antibiotics are no longer...

In Europe, influenza occurs in regular annual epidemics in the winter season. Annual influenza epidemics are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Severe illness and complications are more common in certain risk groups. These include those with chronic medical conditions (e.g....

The goal of this project is to support EU Member States in their fight against measles and rubella. More specifically, this project aims to: dispel the myths about measles vaccination; offer scientific, evidence-based corrections of misperceptions on measles; inform about rubella infections in...

Rotavirus (RV) is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in children worldwide. It has been estimated that by the age of five years, nearly every child in the world has been infected with RV at least once. Studies suggest that RV infections lead to approximately 700 000 outpatient visits...

Narcolepsy is an underdiagnosed disease of widely unknown etiology. This report summarises the results from two epidemiological studies conducted by the Vaccine Adverse Event Surveillance and Communication (VAESCO) Consortium undertaken in eight European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)...

The aim of the literature review presented in this report was to provide evidence to inform the recommendations made by ECDC and the EMCDDA in the 2011 'Guidance on the prevention and control of infectious diseases among people who inject drugs'. The evidence presented here focuses on the...