NEWS - EU NEWS
ECDC- European Environment and Epidemiology Network (E3) Climate change and related threats to public health
CPME publication date: Monday, February 15, 2010In response to the changing global climate and its possible impacts on infectious diseases, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) proposed a new infrastructure, the European Environment and Epidemiology Network (E3) (http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/Pages/Climate_Change.aspx). This network shall link data from various sources and act as a focal point for information, surveillance, and technical support. The aim of this network is to connect climatic/environmental and infectious disease data so as to strengthen European capability in forecasting, monitoring, and responding to the threats created by new and emerging diseases. Throughout the last decades, global climate has been changing with severe ecological and anthropogenic consequences: natural disasters as for example blizzards, heat waves, and floods accumulated during the last years causing major numbers of human deaths and injuries. Not only the amount of those adverse events is shocking, but climate change also influences the incidence and spread of infectious diseases in different ways. Generally, the transmission of infectious diseases is affected by various factors such as social, economical, ecological conditions, access to care and intrinsic human immunity. Furthermore, several infectious agents, vector organisms, non-human reservoir species, and pathogen replication react very sensitive to climate conditions. Based on the hypotheses of the mutual enhancement between climate change and infectious diseases, a few theories have been established but epidemiological data could not yet scientifically support those. In answer to this lack of evidence, the E3 network, proposed by the ECDC, would unite epidemic intelligence and infectious disease surveillance data with meteorological variables, entomological data, water quality records, population density, geology, and numerous other information sources. Through this incorporation, disease surveillance systems would be able to analyze environmental predecessors to disease pandemics and thus preparing public health for today’s challenges. Moreover, public health in particular would benefit by an introduction of ‘trend-analysis’ throughout the Member States overtime, and by establishing an early warning system in the scope of the E3 network, that helps Member States to plan adequate and timely actions in order to prevent or control disease outbreaks (such as vector-, water- or foodborne diseases).
back to EU News Index