A recently published analysis of European outbreaks suggests travel and tourism are the greatest influences on infectious disease events occurring in this region. Other leading outbreak drivers included food and water quality, the natural environment, global trade and climate, according to the report.

Researchers identified 116 infectious disease threat events (IDTEs) within the European Union between July 2008 and December 2013. Among the “multiple-driver” category, foodborne and waterborne events were the most frequent (n = 48), and were followed by vector-borne and rodent-borne IDTEs (n = 27), airborne IDTEs (n = 10) and vaccine-preventable IDTEs (n = 10).

For single-driver IDTEs, 61% had a globalization and environment driver, 21% were attributed to public health system failure, and 18% had sociodemographic factors (18%).