Emerging zoonoses/Opduikende zoönosen

In this advisory report addressed to the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, and to the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, a Committee of the Health Council provides answers to questions about the risks of infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans (“zoonotic diseases”) and about the possibilities of reducing these risks. The report will serve as the basis for a European policy conference on 16 and 17 September 2004 during the Dutch presidency of the European Union: The European Response to Public Health Risks from Emerging Zoonotic Diseases. At the request of the Ministers, the Committee has consulted with the WHO about matters of substance. These consultations resulted in an international conference entitled WHO/FAO/OIE Joint Consultation on Emerging Zoonotic Diseases in Collaboration with the Health Council of the Netherlands, which took place in Geneva from 3 to 5 May 2004. A second component used as a basis for the advisory report is a background document produced by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) containing data about zoonotic risks of significance for Europe.
As is already clear from the titles of the European policy conference and of the meeting in Geneva, emerging zoonotic diseases are the central focus of the advisory report: it is precisely these diseases that, because of their sudden emergence, constitute a threat to public health. An emerging zoonosis is a zoonosis that is newly recognized or newly evolved, or that has occurred previously but shows an increase in incidence or expansion in geographic, host or vector range. The advisory report addresses the following questions.

Committee

• Dr EJ Ruitenberg, Professor of international public health; Free University, Amsterdam, chairman
• Ir SJ Beukema, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, The Hague, advisor
• Dr A Bianchi, Executive Director Central Institute for Animal Disease Control; Lelystad
• Dr GA van Essen, general practicioner, Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht
• Dr JWB van der Giessen, veterinary; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, advisor
• Dr F van Knapen, Professor of food hygiene and veterinary public health; Utrecht University
• Dr M Koopmans, virologist; National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• Dr JFEM de Kroon, Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, The Hague, advisor
• Dr JWM van der Meer, Professor of internal medicine; Nijmegen University Medical Centre
• Dr RM Meertens, psychologist; Maastricht University
• Dr J van der Noordaa, Em. professor of virology; Weesp
• Dr ADME Osterhaus, Professor of virology, Erasmus University Rotterdam
• Dr J van der Velden, Professor of public health, Nijmegen University Medical Centre
• EJ Schoten, Health Council of the Netherlands, The Hague, secretary