Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 September 1998 setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community^f1, and in particular Article 3(c) thereof,

Whereas:

According to point 2.1 of Annex I to Commission Decision 2000/96/EC of 22 December 1999 on the communicable diseases to be progressively covered by the Community network under Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f2, ‘diseases preventable by vaccination’, including ‘influenza’, are covered by epidemiological surveillance in the Community network pursuant to Decision No 2119/98/EC.

According to Article 2 of Commission Decision 2002/253/EC of 19 March 2002 laying down case definitions for reporting communicable diseases to the Community network under Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f3, the case definitions laid down in Annex to that Decision should be updated to the extent necessary on the basis of the latest scientific data.

Several cases of a novel influenza virus have been reported in North America and more recently in several Member States. This virus is one of the multiple forms that can take the disease ‘influenza’, listed in Annex I to Decision 2000/96/EC. However, given that this new virus poses a risk of a pandemic influenza and requires an immediate coordination between the Community and the national competent authorities, it is necessary to provide for a specific case definition differentiating it from the more general case definition of influenza, that will enable the national competent authorities to communicate relevant information to the Community network pursuant to Article 4 of Decision No 2119/98/EC.

In accordance with Article 9 of the Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 establishing a European Centre for disease prevention and control^f4 (ECDC), the ECDC provided, at the request of the Commission, a technical document on the case definition for this communicable disease assisting the Commission and Member States in the development of intervention strategies in the field of surveillance and response. The case definitions listed in the Annex to Decision 2002/253/EC should be updated on the basis of this contribution.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee set up by Article 7 of Decision No 2119/98/EC,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: