We're now safely in Stockholm, after a long flight from Vancouver to London and a stay at Heathrow we did not enjoy. From the moment we got off the plane at Arlanda, however, we knew we were in what an old friend once described as "the most civilized country in the world." Since I'm here at the invitation of ECDC, I'm resuming blogging with an ECDC report: Nine EU countries met measles elimination target of less than 1 case per million. Excerpt:
According to the ECDC monthly measles and rubella report, nine European countries met the elimination target of less than 1 case per million population during the last 12 months. These are Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, and Slovakia.
There were 5 360 reported cases of measles from January to August 2012 and 8 547 cases during the last 12-month period from September 2011 to August 2012. France, Italy, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom contributed 92% of the notified measles cases.
There was no increase in cases at the European level during the peak transmission season from February to June this year. Although the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) reports that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of measles in the UK has doubled in 2012 compared to 2011. By the end of June 2012, 964 cases had been reported, compared to 497 in the same period of 2011.I'll try to post more items in the morning, but the last 24 hours has made me realize that real air travel died when the Hindenburg went down in flames. I'm going to bed.
