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Epidemiologische surveillance van Cryptosporidium in België, 2019-2024
No full text- Het aantal gemelde Cryptosporidium-gevallen in België daalde tussen 2019 en 2020, bleef laag in 2021, steeg vervolgens sterk in 2022 en 2023 en overschreed de niveaus van voor COVID-19. Daarna werd een daling vastgesteld in 2024.
- Tussen 2019 en 2024 werden de meeste gevallen geregistreerd bij kinderen jonger dan 10 jaar, net als in voorgaande jaren.</p
How to scale up telemedicine for cancer prevention and care? Recommendations for sustainably implementing telemedicine services within EU health systems
No full textCancer is the second leading cause of mortality in Europe after cardiovascular diseases. Significant disparities exist across European countries in cancer prevention, diagnostics, treatment, and care, which impact patient
outcomes. The Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan aims to improve cancer prevention and care through innovative approaches including telemedicine (TM). TM services, such as teleconsultation and telemonitoring, offer opportunities to enhance patient-centered care, improve access to health services, and empower patients. However, challenges remain, including inadequate IT infrastructure, legal uncertainties, funding issues, and varying levels of digital literacy among the population. The eCAN Joint Action (JA), involving 16 European countries, was launched in September 2022 to strengthen eHealth solutions for cancer prevention and care. This JA focused on improving teleconsultation and remote monitoring, building healthcare capacity, and developing interoperable TM solutions. A key outcome was the eCAN policy dashboard, offering a country-specific overview of cancerrelated and eHealth policies in European countries. Additionally, the eCAN roadmap proposed 16 recommendations across six intervention areas, addressing regulatory frameworks, stakeholder engagement, infrastructure development, training requirements, healthcare system integration, and outcomes evaluation. These recommendations aim to facilitate TM adoption across Europe. The upcoming JA eCAN+ initiative, starting in 2025, will further build on eCAN’s work, advancing the sustainable implementation of TM services in cancer prevention and care in Europe.</p
Bulletin épidémiologique intermédiaire sur les infections sexuellement transmissibles en 2024
No full textEpidemiologische surveillance van hepatitis A in België, 2023-2024
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Via de verplichte melding en het Nationaal Referentiecentrum werden in 2023 175 gevallen van hepatitis A geregistreerd en in 2024 254 gevallen.
Na een daling van het aantal gevallen van hepatitis A tijdens de COVID-19 pandemie (vooral 2020 en 2021), bereikte het aantal gevallen van hepatitis A in 2024 terug het niveau van voor de COVID-19 pandemie.
In 2024 waren er iets meer mannen dan vrouwen met hepatitis A (in 2023 was er geen verschil). De hoogste incidenties werden geregistreerd in de leeftijdsgroepen jonger dan 10 jaar.
Hepatitis A vertoont in België een seizoensgebondenheid, met een hoger aantal gevallen na de zomer, gelinkt aan reizigers terugkerend uit endemische landen.
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Epidemiologische surveillance van Shiga-toxine producerende Escherichia coli (STEC) in België, 2023-2024
No full text✓ Via de verplichte melding en het Nationaal Referentiecentrum werden in 2023 in totaal 623 gevallen van STEC geregistreerd en in 2024 werden 620 gevallen geregistreerd.
✓ Sedert 2021 is er een duidelijk stijgende trend in het aantal registraties van STEC, terwijl het aantal gevallen van hemolytisch uremisch syndroom (HUS) volgens de gegevens van het National Referentiecentrum stabiel blijft. Dit is vermoedelijk te linken aan het toenemend gebruik van culture-independent diagnostische technieken die de detectie van STEC vergemakkelijken.
✓ Er worden iets meer STEC infecties bij vrouwen dan bij mannen geregistreerd, en de meeste infecties doen zich voor in de leeftijdsgroep jonger dan 5 jaar.
✓ STEC-infecties komen frequenter voor in de zomer, met de hoogste incidenties in de periode juli-oktober.</p
Medicines in Disguise and How to Find Them
No full textIn the context of the fight against illegal and falsified medicines, the illegal adulteration of dietary supplements and other products,
like cosmetics, medical devices, and food products, with pharmaceutical ingredients is an underestimated phenomenon and
is generally indicated as medicines in disguise. However, from the point of view of protecting public health, medicines in disguise
represent a serious risk for consumers’ health due to adverse effects and possible interactions with therapies already used by a
patient to treat a (chronic) medical condition, and who is unaware he is taking a medicine. With an overview of a series of cases
reported in the literature, this paper intends to raise awareness about this issue, emphasizing the extent of products that may be
concerned and the range of adulterants that may be encountered. Equally important are the analytical techniques, suitable for
the detection and identification of adulterants and the analysis of medicines in disguise. Laboratories have a whole plethora of
techniques at their disposal; however, there is also a need for simple portable screening techniques to support customs officers
and inspectors in their choice of identifying products as suspicious and their decision to seize.</p
The Occurrence of Illicit Smart Drugs or Nootropics in Europe and Australia and Their Associated Dangers: Results from a Market Surveillance Study by 12 Official Medicines Control Laboratories
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Whole-genome sequencing of soil- and foodborne Bacillus cereus sensu lato indicates no clear association between their virulence repertoire, genomic diversity and food matrix
No full textBacillus cereus sensu lato is frequently involved in foodborne toxico-infections and is found in various foodstuff. It is unclear whether certain strains have a higher affinity for specific food matrices, which can be of interest for risk assessment. This study reports the characterization by whole-genome sequencing of 169 B. cereus isolates, isolated from 12 food types and soil over two decades. Any potential links between the food matrix of isolation, the isolate’s genetic lineage and/or their (putative) virulence gene reservoir were investigated. More than 20 % of the strains contained the genes for the main potential enterotoxins (nheABC, hblCDA and cytK_2). Cereulide biosynthesis genes and genes encoding hemolysins and phospholipases, were detected in multiple isolates. Strain typing revealed a high diversity, as illustrated by 84 distinct sequence types, including 26 not previously described. This diversity was also reflected in the detection of all seven panC types and 71 unique virulence gene profiles. Core-genome MLST was used for phylogenomic investigation of the entire collection and SNP-based clustering was performed on the four most abundant sequence types, which did not reveal a clear affinity for specific B. cereus lineages or (putative) virulence genes for certain food matrices. Additionally, minimal genetic overlap was observed between soil and foodborne isolates. Clusters of closely-related isolates with common epidemiological metadata were detected. However, some isolates from different food matrices or collected several years apart were found to be genetically identical. This study provides elements that can be used for risk assessment of B. cereus in food.</p
Whole-genome sequencing of soil- and foodborne Bacillus cereus sensu lato indicates no clear association between their virulence repertoire, genomic diversity and food matrix
No full textBacillus cereus sensu lato is frequently involved in foodborne toxico-infections and is found in various foodstuff. It is unclear whether certain strains have a higher affinity for specific food matrices, which can be of interest for risk assessment. This study reports the characterization by whole-genome sequencing of 169 B. cereus isolates, isolated from 12 food types and soil over two decades. Any potential links between the food matrix of isolation, the isolate’s genetic lineage and/or their (putative) virulence gene reservoir were investigated. More than 20 % of the strains contained the genes for the main potential enterotoxins (nheABC, hblCDA and cytK_2). Cereulide biosynthesis genes and genes encoding hemolysins and phospholipases, were detected in multiple isolates. Strain typing revealed a high diversity, as illustrated by 84 distinct sequence types, including 26 not previously described. This diversity was also reflected in the detection of all seven panC types and 71 unique virulence gene profiles. Core-genome MLST was used for phylogenomic investigation of the entire collection and SNP-based clustering was performed on the four most abundant sequence types, which did not reveal a clear affinity for specific B. cereus lineages or (putative) virulence genes for certain food matrices. Additionally, minimal genetic overlap was observed between soil and foodborne isolates. Clusters of closely-related isolates with common epidemiological metadata were detected. However, some isolates from different food matrices or collected several years apart were found to be genetically identical. This study provides elements that can be used for risk assessment of B. cereus in food.</p