What is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) website?

Updated

The ECDC website (ecdc.europa.eu) is the official online presence of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an EU agency that collects, analyses and shares data on more than 50 infectious disease topics. Its experts assess risks to Europe and provide guidance to help countries prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats. It is best suited to public health professionals, policymakers, researchers and journalists who need authoritative European-level surveillance and risk-assessment information, rather than to individuals seeking personal medical advice.

What the site covers

The homepage describes ECDC's core function in three parts:

  • Collect and analyse data on more than 50 infectious disease topics.
  • Assess risks to Europe.
  • Provide guidance to help countries prevent and respond to outbreaks and public health threats.

This positions the site as a source of aggregated, cross-country information rather than a clinical service.

Types of content you will find

The homepage surfaces several recurring content categories:

Category Examples visible on the homepage
News Updates on an Ebola disease outbreak in the DRC and Uganda; a pneumonia case of unknown origin in Russia
Publications Handbook of laboratory protocols for RSV characterisation; communicable disease threats reports
Surveillance and monitoring Weekly communicable disease threats report; seasonal dengue surveillance in the EU/EEA
Featured tools The European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS); a Learning Portal; weekly threats reports (CDTR)

How risk assessments are framed

ECDC publishes risk assessments that put outbreaks into a European context. For example, in its coverage of the Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the site states that although information remains limited, ECDC assesses the likelihood of infection for people living in the EU/EEA to be very low. Similarly, following a reported death from suspected pneumonic plague in Irkutsk, Russia, ECDC said it was closely monitoring the situation. This shows the site's role: monitoring global events and translating them into an EU/EEA risk picture.

Who it is for

The framing of the content — guidance for countries, surveillance summaries, laboratory protocols, threat reports — indicates the primary audience is:

  • National public health authorities in the EU/EEA
  • Epidemiologists and laboratory specialists
  • Researchers and policymakers
  • Journalists and others needing a citable European reference

Practical takeaways

  • Use the site when you need European-level disease surveillance, outbreak updates or risk assessments.
  • Check the Publications and Surveillance and monitoring sections for recurring reports such as the weekly CDTR.
  • The Learning Portal and tools like ERVISS are aimed at professionals wanting structured training or surveillance data.
  • For personal health decisions, this is not the appropriate source; it provides population-level public health information.