Moderate flu season Last winter season, the duration and severity of the influenza epidemic was moderate compared to previous years.
First patient infected by tick-borne encephalitis virus 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).
Livestock farming affects pulmonary function in local residents COPD patients living near livestock farms suffer more complications.
Nanotechnology increasingly used in medical devices The application of nanotechnology to design and produce medical devices is increasing. RIVM provides an overview of nanotechnology enabled medical devices.
More people infected with diseases transmitted by wild rodents In 2014, there were more patients in the Netherlands with diseases transmitted by wild rodents than in previous years.
Flu season in the winter of 2014 / 2015 more severe and longer than preceding years The flu epidemic in the winter of 2014 / 2015 lasted 21 weeks and as such was the longest epidemic ever recorded in the Netherlands. Nearly two million people suffered from flu-like symptoms.
The number of STI tests keeps increasing The number of clients tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) at Dutch STI clinics has increased since 2004.
New Lyme disease study in the Netherlands 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
Is screening for sexually transmitted infections as part of HIV care cost-effective in the Netherlands? Routine screening for anorectal chlamydia among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) could avert further spread of chlamydia and HIV in the total MSM population.
New bacterium in ticks Last year, a man was treated at the Amsterdam Academic Medical Centre (AMC) after being bitten by a tick and becoming infected with a strain of the Borrelia bacterium not previously encountered in