Conference organized by:

Center for Biosecurity of UPMC

World Health Organization Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Office

Conference sponsored by:

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

Health Security Cooperation in the European Union
Presenter: Germain Thinus

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The responsibility for terrorism surveillance (biological, chemical, and radiological) and early warning among the 25 member states of the European Union (EU) is charged to the Health Threat Unit, located in the Commission's Health and Consumer Protection Directorate. The Health Threat Unit has established seven working groups:

• Preparedness and response planning
• Chemical threats
• Prudent use of antimicrobial agents in human medicine
• Incident investigation and sampling
• Medicinal products
• Co-operation between laboratories
• Risk communication

The EU Rapid Alert System conducts surveillance on communicable diseases and diseases caused by acts of bioterrorism through a complex network of rapid alert systems, including the national surveillance systems of member states, other Commission Directorates, and the WHO. Surveillance data are coordinated and evaluated by the Health Emergency Operations Facility; in turn, this facility initiates alert notifications and conducts follow-up. The criteria for notification include:

• Suspicion of danger
• Internationally relevant events; need for a complex response
• Need for coordination (investigative and control actions)
• Suspicion of deliberate action of a terrorist organization
• Risk of trans-frontier spread of the agent/event
• Need for assistance from other countries

Actionable information and warnings are sent to the member states by the Communication and Crisis Center (BICHAT) and the Security Office in Brussels. BICHAT conducts follow-up management, disseminates and coordinates information, and deploys emergency teams. BICHAT reaction time is one hour. The on-duty officer receives the alert via an SMS notification to his/her mobile phone (pager system) and by a telephone call from the Security Office in Brussels . More information about the activities of the Health Threat Unit and Health Security can be found online at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_threats/threats_en.htm

The Health Threat Unit also has responsibility for other reportable diseases, including:

• Diseases preventable by vaccination
• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Viral hepatitis
• Food- and water-borne diseases and diseases of environmental origin
• Air-borne diseases
• Zoonotic diseases
• Diseases transmitted by non-conventional agents
• Serious imported diseases
• Special Health Issues (nosocomial infections; antimicrobial resistance)

- Summary by Penny Hitchcock, D.V.M., M.S.

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