Public health: network for epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the European Community EWRS

- OBJECTIVE: establishment of a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community. - SUBSTANCE: The network will be established by creating permanent channels of communication between the national structures responsible for collecting information relating to epidemiological surveillance and coordinating control measures. These structures will pass on to the Community network details of the diseases concerned and the measures taken to control them, along with any useful information about the development of epidemics and any data which might facilitate cooperation among the Member States (for example conservation of disease samples). The surveillance covers: . the appearance or resurgence in a Member State of serious or rare diseases and diseases requiring measures to be taken at local level (set out in the annex), i.e.: - diseases preventable by vaccination (tuberculosis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, meningitis, measles, mumps, rubella, influenza and influenza syndromes, etc.), - sexually-transmitted diseases (hepatitis B, AIDS/HIV, chlamydiasis, etc.), - viral hepatitis (hepatitis C and others), - food-borne diseases (listeriosis, salmonellosis, etc.), - water-borne diseases and diseases of environmental origin (legionellosis, etc.), - nosocomial infections, - other diseases transmissible by non-conventional agents (including Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, etc.); . the importation from another Member State or third country of the same diseases and certain diseases (also set out in the annex) requiring exceptional measures to be taken at national and international levels: - diseases covered by the International Health Regulations (yellow fever, cholera, plague), - other diseases (rabies, typhus fever, African haemorrhagic fevers, malaria and any other as yet unclassified serious epidemic disease, etc.). The surveillance network also covers specified zoonoses in animals and products of animal origin (Council Directive 92/117/EEC). The list of diseases to be monitored may be changed by the Commission using the procedure provided for in the decision. The surveillance is carried out by the Commission, assisted by a Committee consisting of representatives from the Member States and chaired by a Commission representative. The Commission submits to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken, including: - case definitions and the microbiological characterization of the infectious agents, - the type of data and information to be collected, - the surveillance methods to be established, - the protective measures to be taken, in particular at ports and airports in emergencies, - information, recommendations and guides to good practice for the public. When the decision is implemented, due account will be taken of Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of personal data and Decision 95/468/EC on the IDA network. �