Surveillance report: Hantavirus infection - Annual Epidemiological Report for 2017

SURVEILLANCE REPORT Hantavirus infection Annual Epidemiological Report for 2017 Key facts • In 2017, 21 countries reported 4 239 cases of hantavirus infection (0.8 cases per 100 000 population). • The overall notification rate fluctuated from 0.4–0.8 cases per 100 000 population from 2013–2017. • In 2017, two countries, Finland and Germany, accounted for 70.1% of all reported cases. • In the absence of a licensed vaccine, prevention mainly relies on rodent control, avoidance of contact and properly cleaning and disinfecting areas contaminated by rodent excreta (urine, saliva or droppings). Methods This report is based on data for 2017 retrieved from The European Surveillance System (TESSy) on 11 December 2018. TESSy is a system for the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on communicable diseases. For a detailed description of methods used to produce this report, refer to the Methods chapter [1]. An overview of the national surveillance systems is available online [2]. A subset of the data used for this report is available through ECDC’s online Surveillance atlas of infectious diseases [3]. In 2017, 28 EU/EEA countries reported data (Denmark, Iceland and Liechtenstein did not report). Eighteen countries used the EU case definition, five countries used an alternative case definition and five countries did not specify the definition used. Surveillance is comprehensive in all countries except in Belgium, which has a...