Monitoring EU Emerging Infectious Disease Risk Due to Climate Change

Abstract

Climate change, globalization, and other drivers have made Europe a “hot spot” for emerging infectious diseases, which calls for changes in monitoring systems.

GeoSentinel Surveillance of Illness in Returned Travelers, 2007–2011

“…Vector-borne diseases in travelers to Europe, which mirror an overall increase in arthropod-borne diseases in Europe (48), are particularly notable, as are the cases of measles (49) and legionellosis (50). Travelers to western countries often consider their risk for disease to be low, as do health care professionals.…”

Lesleishmaniosesvues au travers du réseau international des Instituts Pasteur

“…L'impact du changement climatique sur l'épidémiologie des leishmanioses n'est pas encore bien évalué. En 2012, la LV a été déclarée maladie émergente en Europe, et son impact potentiel en santé publique est important ; cette évolution est en grande partie due au réchauffement global récent [10]. Le risque d'extension vers le nord de L. infantum à partir des pays méditerranéens est en outre étayé par des études récentes sur la répartition des phlébotomes et sur la détection du parasite dans des zones aujourd'hui non endémiques [11,12].…”

Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases: a continuous challenge for Europe

“…The current EU surveillance system is based on both annual country-level reporting and the detection of individual disease outbreaks through epidemic intelligence. Traditional surveillance is often insufficient for early detection of EIDs, which calls for the finetuning of current surveillance approaches [17]. Surveillance across the whole spectrum of human and animal diseases (risk analysis, integrated information systems, shared databases, and data and sample archives) should be supported by enhancing capacity and improved techniques.…”

“…); 2) demographic and social drivers (population ageing, social inequality and uncontrolled urbanisation); and 3) public health system drivers (antimicrobial resistance, health care capacity, animal health, etc.) [17]. Emergence can also be the consequence of microbial evolution and genetic changes in existing pathogens.…”