Author:
Medenica Sanja,Rakočević Božidarka,Đorđević Zorica,Marković Darinka
Abstract
The aim of this study is to show how public health surveillance of travel-associated Legionnaires' disease was conducted in Europe, as well as in Montenegro. The estimations of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) indicate that every year about one thousand tourists from Europe get infected by legionellae during their holiday and stay at hotels across the continent. The European Legionnaires' Disease Surveillance Network (ELDSNet) was established with the aim to detect, control and prevent cases, clusters and sources of outbreaks of travel-associated Legionnaires' disease within the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA), and to assist with detection and response to outbreaks outside the EU/EEA. Sharing information leads to concrete and timely actions of member states of ELDSNet, so that residents of the EU/EEA who travel abroad are protected. ECDC recommends a set of measures that should be followed by public health authorities and tourist sector of the country which was visited by the traveler who caught this disease. If the measures are not carried out, information is published online and European tour operators can use the information when booking holiday packages abroad. Operating procedures provide a set of common measures which should be followed by all EU/ EEA member states involved in the protection of their residents against Legionnaires' disease. Each case of Legionnaires' disease which is reported in tourists, who stayed in Montenegro, is epidemiologically analyzed according to the operating procedures of ELDS Network.
Publisher
Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science (CEON/CEES)
Reference22 articles.
1. Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 1998 setting up a network forthe epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community. OJ L 268, 3.10.1998; p. 1-7.;
2. Fraser D, Tsai TR, Orenstein W, Parkin WE, Beecham HJ, Sharrar RG, et al. Legionnaires' disease: description of an epidemic of pneumonia. N Engl J Med 1977; 297(22):1189-97.;
3. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. European Legionnaires' Disease Surveillance Network (ELDSNet) -Operating procedures for the surveillance of travel-associated Legionnaires' disease in the EU/ EEA. Stockholm: ECDC; 2017. Available from: http://ecdc.europa.eu/publications-data/europeanlegionnairesdisease-surveillance-network-eldsnet-operatingprocedures.;
4. Newton HJ, Ang DK, van Driel IR, Hartland EL. Molecular pathogenesis of infections caused by Legionella pneumophila. Clin Microbiol Rev 2010; 23: 274-98.;
5. Palmer A, Painter J, Hassler H, Richards V, Bruce T, Morrison S, et al. Legionella clemsonensis sp.nov.:a green fluorescing Legionella strain from a patient with pneumonia. Microbiol Immunol 2016;60: 694-701.;