A long, thoughtful, and informative editorial in Eurosurveillance: Refugee crisis demands European Union-wide surveillance! Excerpt:
The conflicts in the Middle-East and instability in Libya and some parts of Asia and Africa have resulted in a dramatic influx of refugees to the European Union (EU) in recent years. In the first nine months of 2015, more than 600,000 applications for asylum were filed in the EU. With no prospect of change of the international context in the near future, it is likely that the influx of refugees into the EU will continue and may even increase in coming months.
We have witnessed numerous large displacements of populations in recent years and ‘Refugee health’ has become an area of concern for national and international, governmental and non-governmental organisations. Much has been learned from responding to these humanitarian crises.
Although refugees are facing a similar spectrum of non-communicable diseases to those experienced by the indigenous population of their countries of origin, trauma and injuries, sexual and reproductive health issues, violence and psychosocial disorders are among the most frequent health problems refugees encounter. Disruption of healthcare delivery systems in their countries of origin and limited access to healthcare during their journey result in the interruption of treatments often required for the control of chronic diseases.
Refugee populations entering the EU/European Economic Area (EEA), and particularly children, are at risk of exposure to infectious diseases in the same way as other EU residents, and in some cases may be more vulnerable because of the interruption of public health programmes, notably for immunisation, in their country of origin, as well as through various barriers to access healthcare such as language, culture etc. It is therefore important that they benefit from protection from infectious diseases, including those prevented through routine vaccinations.
In addition, these refugees may be at specific risk for certain infectious diseases in relation to their country of origin, countries traversed during their migration, and the conditions they experienced during their mostly difficult journeys.
It is important to note that refugees should not be seen as representing a threat to Europeans regarding infectious diseases, but rather as being themselves vulnerable for such diseases. For example, poor living conditions and close contact in crowded shelters and refugee camps may increase the risk for the spread of lice and/or fleas, which in rare cases can carry diseases such as louse-borne diseases (relapsing fever due to Borrelia recurrentis, trench fever due to Bartonella quintana, epidemic typhus due to Rickettsia prowazekii), murine typhus and mites (scabies).
In recent months, sporadic cases of louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) have been reported in Belgium, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands among migrants from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. LBRF is a disease transmitted by body lice that caused major epidemics in the first half of the 20th century in Europe and is known to have occurred occasionally among homeless people in recent years, without spreading to the general population.
Recent reports from Italy indicate that transmission of LBRF is likely to have occurred in shelters for refugees in the EU, resulting in the risk of cross-border spread as refugees are frequently moving to other countries. Media are reporting outbreaks of scabies and diarrhoea, notably in Calais, France, in relation to poor housing and hygiene conditions.
