Pneumococcal disease in the elderly The Health Council of the Netherlands is preparing an advice on pneumococcal vaccination for the elderly on request of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Statement on health care spending Down syndrome Recently a tweet containing a video from a Dutch tv-show about Down syndrome caused a lot of turmoil on Twitter.
Temporary dermal fillers prove harmless RIVM has conducted a market surveillance study of 26 so-called non-permanent fillers. All 26 products proved to be harmless.
Slight increase of the number of tuberculosis patients in 2016 For the second consecutive year, the number of tuberculosis (TB) patients in the Netherlands increased.
Promising biobased alternatives to controversial polar aprotic solvents There are a number of promising biobased alternatives to controversial polar aprotic solvents, as revealed in a report from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research commissioned by RIVM .
Risk of measles outbreaks increases with decreasing vaccination coverage Vaccination coverage for vaccinations in the Dutch National Vaccination Program (NIP) decreased slightly by about half a percent for the third consecutive year.
Alertness about the Zika virus still needed for pregnant women Since May 2015, there has been a Zika virus outbreak in South and Central America, including the Caribbean. The Zika virus can cause birth defects, including microcephaly (small head size).
More gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia at Dutch STI clinics An increasing number of clients tested at a Dutch STI clinic for a sexually transmitted infection (STI) is diagnosed with gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia.
RIVM recommends hepatitis A vaccination for gay men There is a large international outbreak currently of hepatitis A, mostly among gay and bisexual men. In several European countries more than 1,000 patients have been reported.
Pneumonia occurs more often near livestock farms People who live near poultry farms and goat farms suffer from pneumonia more often. In the area surveyed, every year about 1650 people per 100,000 residents get pneumonia.