Human rabies remains a significant public health problem in Africa with outbreaks reported in most countries. In Nigeria–the most populous country in Africa–rabies causes a significant public health burden partly due to perennial obstacles to implementing a national prevention and control progra...m.
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Biosafety involves the implementation of containment principles, technologies and practices to prevent unintentional exposure to biological agents. Biosecurity involves the protection, control and accountability of biological materials and information related to these materials and dualuse research,... to prevent their unauthorized access, loss, theft, misuse, diversion or intentional release.
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ECDC Technical Report
In line with ECDC’s recommendations provided in the ’Risk Assessment of HTLV-1/2 transmission by tissue/cell transplantation’ dated 14 March 2012, this Directive replaces the term ‘incidence’ with ‘prevalence’ in the description of endemic areas of HTLV-1/2 i...nfection. According to the new requirements ‘HTLV-1 antibody testing must be performed for donors living in, or originating from high-prevalence areas or with sexual partners originating from those areas or where the donor’s parents originate from those areas’ and this applies to both donors of non-reproductive tissues and cells and reproductive cells.
ECDC contracted experts from the Institut Pasteur in Paris to systematically review the published evidence on the distribution of HTLV-1 infection prevalence throughout the world and to identify high-prevalence countries and areas.
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The Event-based Surveillance Framework is intended to be used by authorities and agencies responsible for
surveillance and response. This framework serves as an outline to guide stakeholders interested in implementing
event-based surveillance (EBS) using a multisectoral, One Health approach. To ...that end, the document is arranged
in interlinked chapters and annexes that can be modified and adapted, as needed, by users.
This is a revised version of the original “Framework for Event-based Surveillance” that was published in 2018. This
framework does not replace any other available EBS materials, but rather builds on existing relevant or related
documents and serves as a practical guide for the implementation of EBS in Africa. This framework is aligned with
the third edition of the WHO Joint External Evaluation for the following indicators: strengthened early warning
surveillance systems that are able to detect events of significance for public health and health security (Indicator
D2.1); improved communication and collaboration across sectors and between National, intermediate and local
public health response levels of authority regarding surveillance of events of public health significance (Indicator
D2.2); and improved national and intermediate-level capacity to analyse data (Indicator D2.3). As countries begin
to implement and demonstrate EBS functionality they will ensure an increase in JEE scores and progress towards
meeting the requirements outlined in the IHR3F
Additionally, in African Union Member States that have adopted the Integrated Disease Surveillance and
Response (IDSR) strategy, this document is a complement to and can enhance the implementation of IDSR,
especially for the 3rd edition (2019) that includes components related to EBS.
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The information contained in this document, be it guidelines, recommendations, diagnostic algorithms or treatment regimens, are offered in this document in the public interest. To the best of the knowledge of the guideline writing team, the information contained in these guidelines is correct. Imple...mentation of any aspect of these guidelines remains the responsibility of the implementing agency in so far as public health liability resides, or the responsibility of the individual clinician in the case of diagnosis or treatment.
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This situation analysis has gathered information about the current state of AMR, contributing factors and antimicrobial use in Zimbabwe from the human, animal, agricultural and environmental sectors. Data has been gathered from different sectors such as the general public, academia, the Ministry of ...Health and Child Care, the Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate. It shows that AMR is a real concern in Zimbabwe and a threat to the health outcomes of humans, to the economic productivity of the livestock industry and a risk to the environment.
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The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Biosafety and Biosecurity Initiative was launched by the Africa CDC in April 2019 with the aim of strengthening the African Union (AU) Member States’ biosafety and biosecurity systems and enabling them to comply with national and i...nternational requirements for biosafety and biosecurity including the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005), the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1540 and the multi-country Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). The World Health Organization (WHO) Joint External Evaluation (JEE) and the Global Health Security Index report confirmed the known capacity gaps in biosafety and biosecurity among Africa Union Member (AU).
The regional consultations by Africa CDC conducted between 2019-2021 highlighted the deficiency or limited availability of standardized and regionally recognized training programs in the continent, limiting biosafety and biosecurity capacity building efforts in the region. In response, Africa CDC working with AU Member States developed a home grown, implementable and accessible professional training and certification program that is both recognized and endorsed by AU Member States. The Regional Training and Certification Program for Biosafety and Biosecurity Professionals, for African Biosafety and Biosecurity Professionals (RTCP-BBP) has four (4) areas of specialization, namely
Selection, Installation, Maintenance and Certification of Biological Safety Cabinets
Biorisk Management
Design and Maintenance of Facilities Handling High Risk Pathogens (Biocontainment Engineering)
Biological Waste management
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The leishmaniases are a group of diseases caused by Leishmania spp., which occur in cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral forms. They are neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which disproportionately affect marginalized populations who have limited access to health care. HIV co-infected patients with... Leishmania infection are highly infectious to sandflies, and an increase in the coinfection rate in an endemic area is likely to increase the effective infective reservoir.
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Cases of monkeypox (MPX) acquired in the EU have recently been reported in nine EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the Netherlands).
Monkeypox (MPX) does not spread easily between people. Human-to-human transmission occurs through close contact ...with infectious material from skin lesions of an infected person, through respiratory droplets in prolonged face-to-face contact, and through fomites. The predominance, in the current outbreak, of diagnosed human MPX cases among men having sex with men (MSM), and the nature of the presenting lesions in some cases, suggest transmission occurred during sexual intercourse
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A Global Analysis of Antimicrobial Resistance and Its Drivers.
Since the first State of the World’s Antibiotics report in 2015, antimicrobial resistance has leveled off in some high-income countries but continues to rise in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where access to antibiotic...s has risen with increases in gross domestic product per capita. Per capita antibiotic consumption in LMICs is lower than in high-income countries, despite a higher infectious disease burden; however, consumption rates are rapidly converging. These trends reflect both better access to antibiotics for those who need them and increases in inappropriate antibiotic use.
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The second ECDC/EFSA/EMA joint report on the integrated analysis of antimicrobial consumption (AMC) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria from humans and food-producing animals addressed data obtained by the Agencies’ EU-wide surveillance networks for 2013–2015. AMC in both sectors, exp...ressed in mg/kg of estimated biomass, were compared at country and European level. Substantial variations between countries were observed in both sectors. Estimated data on AMC for pigs and poultry were used for the first time. Univariate and multivariate analyses were applied to study associations between AMC and AMR. In 2014, the average AMC was higher in animals (152 mg/kg) than in humans (124 mg/kg), but the opposite applied to the median AMC (67 and 118 mg/kg, respectively). In 18 of 28 countries, AMC was lower in animals than in humans. Univariate analysis showed statistically-significant (p < 0.05) associations between AMC and AMR for fluoroquinolones and Escherichia coli in both sectors, for 3rd- and 4th-generation cephalosporins and E. coli in humans, and tetracyclines and polymyxins and E. coli in animals. In humans, there was a statistically-significant association between AMC and AMR for carbapenems and polymyxins in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Consumption of macrolides in animals was significantly associated with macrolide resistance in Campylobacter coli in animals and humans. Multivariate analyses provided a unique approach to assess the contributions of AMC in humans and animals and AMR in bacteria from animals to AMR in bacteria from humans. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that 3rd- and 4th-generation cephalosporin and fluoroquinolone resistance in E. coli from humans was associated with corresponding AMC in humans, whereas resistance to fluoroquinolones in Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. from humans was related to consumption of fluoroquinolones in animals. These results suggest that from a ‘One-health’ perspective, there is potential in both sectors to further develop prudent use of antimicrobials and thereby reduce AMR.
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The ECDC, the EFSA and the EMA have for the first time jointly explored associations between consumption of antimicrobials in humans and food-producing animals, and antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from humans and food-producing animals, using 2011 and 2012 data currently available from their re...levant five EU monitoring networks. Combined data on antimicrobial consumption and corresponding resistance in animals and humans for EU MSs and reporting countries were analysed using logistic regression models for selected combinations of bacteria and antimicrobials. A summary indicator of the proportion of resistant bacteria in the main food-producing animal species was calculated for the analysis, as consumption data in food-producing animals were not available at the species level
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