In the past months, GeoSentinel® has increased interaction with ECDC and GeoSentinel®/EuroTravNet is now acknowledged by ECDC as a source of epidemic intelligence. In the framework of this collaboration, we can share some information that may be relevant for travel medicine providers. Currently ECDC is monitoring the hantavirus situation in Europe. Since the beginning of the year and as of May 2017, an increase in case numbers compared to last year is reported in several EU/EEA and enlargement countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.This is in contrast to the northernmost countries and the Baltic countries where no or only slight increases in cases are indicated at present. The current increase of hantavirus infection in several EU countries is not unexpected as regular outbreaks appear in a two- or three-year cycle across Europe, and most cases usually occur in the second quarter of the year. The last two years have shown a low virus transmission to humans in most EU countries. The most common European hantavirus disease is caused by Puumala virus, carried by the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). A risk of international spread is not foreseen, as endemic areas have remained stable and Puumala hantavirus is not spread from person-to-person. Hantaviruses are rodent-borne viruses causing clinical illness in humans of varying severity including hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and adult respiratory distress syndrome. The hantaviruses are maintained in rodent species specific for each virus. Humans are affected by close contact with the rodent or through the inhalation of aerosolized rodent urine.
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In the past months, GeoSentinel® has increased interaction with ECDC and GeoSentinel®/EuroTravNet is now acknowledged by ECDC as a source of epidemic intelligence. In the framework of this collaboration, we can share some information that may be relevant for travel medicine providers. Currently ECDC is monitoring the hantavirus situation in Europe. Since the beginning of the year and as of May 2017, an increase in case numbers compared to last year is reported in several EU/EEA and enlargement countries: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.This is in contrast to the northernmost countries and the Baltic countries where no or only slight increases in cases are indicated at present. The current increase of hantavirus infection in several EU countries is not unexpected as regular outbreaks appear in a two- or three-year cycle across Europe, and most cases usually occur in the second quarter of the year. The last two years have shown a low virus transmission to humans in most EU countries. The most common European hantavirus disease is caused by Puumala virus, carried by the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). A risk of international spread is not foreseen, as endemic areas have remained stable and Puumala hantavirus is not spread from person-to-person. Hantaviruses are rodent-borne viruses causing clinical illness in humans of varying severity including hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and adult respiratory distress syndrome. The hantaviruses are maintained in rodent species specific for each virus. Humans are affected by close contact with the rodent or through the inhalation of aerosolized rodent urine.