At the beginning of 2019, RIVM measured the air quality around the landfill at Philipsburg, Sint Maarten for two weeks. No or hardly any harmful substances were measured.

From 21 January 2019,  a team from RIVM will travel to Sint Maarten to make measurements and take samples at various locations around the landfill in Philipsburg.

According to a survey by RIVM , 27,000 people were infected with Lyme disease in 2017. In 2014, the last time RIVM reported on the incidence of tick-borne disease, this number was 25,000.

The societal costs of Lyme disease have been determined for the Netherlands for the first time. The disease appears to cost nearly EUR 20 million each year.

One in 5 tick bites occurs in an urban area. Although most tick bites occur in the countryside, many people are bitten in urban areas as well.

For the first time, a person in the Netherlands has fallen ill after a bite from a tick carrying the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBE virus).

At the start of the “Tick Awareness Week”, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Wageningen UR are commencing a large-scale study on the long-term effects of

RIVM-experts from the Environmental Assessment Unit (EAU) have undertaken two missions involving an emergency situation in the Solomon Islands and an environmental assessment in Georgia.

RIVM is in a state of readiness to assist and support the fire brigade, the Dutch National Police Service (KLPD) and the Regional Emergency Health Organisation (GHOR) in the event of any disasters