New Methodology for Estimating the Burden of Infectious Diseases in Europe

Summary Points The major objectives of the Burden of Communicable Diseases in Europe (BCoDE) study are to further develop the methodology to estimate the burden of infectious diseases (IDs), and to estimate and report on the current and future burden of IDs in the European Union member states and European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association countries. The BCoDE project uses a pathogen-based incidence approach to generate estimates, fully taking into account all chronic and long-term sequelae that can be causally related to an infectious agent. An important focus is the assessment of underreporting and under-ascertainment in various types of incidence data. Future challenges are the integration of demographic changes and infection dynamics into the methodology for estimating the burden of IDs.