Annual Epidemiological Report on Communicable Diseases in Europe 2008

The second edition of ECDC’s Annual Epidemiological Report on Communicable Diseases features a dedicated section and detailed commentary on healthcare associated infections. Over three million people in the EU had a healthcare-associated infection in 2006, of whom approximately 37 000 died. The death toll from healthcare-associated infections is comparable to the number of people who die each year in road traffic accidents. Also included in this year’s report is an overview of communicable disease surveillance data from 2006 and a description of acute threats to human health from communicable diseases