Radioactive material used in hospitals detected in sewage water RIVM has, for the first time, investigated the possibility of detecting radioactive substances in sewage. This appears to be the case, as RIVM has found iodine-131 and lutetium-177. Hospitals use these substances in the treatment of patients.
Remove ticks quickly, reduce your risk of Lyme disease Ticks are active again, as shown by the increase in tick bite reports on Tekenradar.nl. Quick action is important: the faster you remove a tick after it bites you, the lower your risk of contracting Lyme disease.
Screening for chronic Q-fever is only cost-effective for specific groups RIVM has investigated for which groups screening for chronic Q-fever might be cost-effective.
Pneumococcal disease in the elderly The Health Council of the Netherlands is preparing an advice on pneumococcal vaccination for the elderly on request of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Statement on health care spending Down syndrome Recently a tweet containing a video from a Dutch tv-show about Down syndrome caused a lot of turmoil on Twitter.
Temporary dermal fillers prove harmless RIVM has conducted a market surveillance study of 26 so-called non-permanent fillers. All 26 products proved to be harmless.
Slight increase of the number of tuberculosis patients in 2016 For the second consecutive year, the number of tuberculosis (TB) patients in the Netherlands increased.
Promising biobased alternatives to controversial polar aprotic solvents There are a number of promising biobased alternatives to controversial polar aprotic solvents, as revealed in a report from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research commissioned by RIVM .
Longest ever recorded flu epidemic measured in 2015 The most notable infectious disease outbreak in 2015 was the flu epidemic in the winter of 2014-2015, which at 21 weeks was the longest ever recorded in the Netherlands.
First patient infected by tick-borne encephalitis virus For the first time, a person in the Netherlands has fallen ill after a bite from a tick carrying the tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBE virus).