The Health Threat Unit of the

Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), until 2014 known as the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), is a directorate-general of the European Commission. The DG is responsible for the implementation of E ...

(

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

), is responsible for terrorism surveillance and early warning of biological,

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

, and radiological threats within the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. The Health Threat Unit runs the ''Rapid Alert System'', which conducts surveillance on communicable diseases and diseases caused by acts of

bioterrorism Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, and/or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same ...

. The surveillance data are coordinated and evaluated by the ''Health Emergency Operations Facility''. Health threat information and warnings are sent to the member states by the Communication and Crisis Center (''BICHAT'') and the Security Office in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Criteria for notification

The BICHAT sends a warning to the EU member states, within one hour of receiving a warning, when there is: * 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

Other responsibilities

Besides bioterrorism, the Health Threat Unit also has responsibility for other reportable diseases: * Diseases preventable by vaccination *

Sexually transmitted disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral ...

s *

Viral hepatitis Viral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to a viral infection. It may present in acute form as a recent infection with relatively rapid onset, or in chronic form. The most common causes of viral hepatitis are the five unrelated hepatotropic vi ...

* Food- and water-borne diseases and diseases of environmental origin * Air-borne diseases *

Zoonotic disease A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human ...

s * Diseases transmitted by non-conventional agents * Serious imported diseases * Special Health Issues (

nosocomial infection A hospital-acquired infection, also known as a nosocomial infection (from the Greek , meaning "hospital"), is an infection that is acquired in a hospital or other health care facility. To emphasize both hospital and nonhospital settings, it is so ...

antimicrobial resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials. All classes of microbes can evolve resistance. Fungi evolve antifungal resistance. Viruses evolve antiviral resistance. P ...

)

Working groups

Within the Health Threat Unit, there are seven working groups responsible for various aspects of bio-defense: * 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

Sources

Threats to health
(European Union)

External links

Public Health EU Portal
the official public health portal of the European Union {{Bioterrorism Civil Service of the European Union European medical and health organizations Public health organizations Health and the European Union

Criteria for notification

Other responsibilities

Working groups

See also

Sources

External links