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.

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).

COPD patients living near livestock farms suffer more complications.

Nicoline Tamsma has been elected to serve a new two-year term as EuroHealthNet president. EuroHealthNet is a European network organisation of public health and health promotion institutes.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem. In the Netherlands, some bacteria that can cause infections in people are more frequently resistant to antibiotics used as a last resort.

The German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, RIVM have signed a cooperation agreement, focused on developing new sci

RIVM aims to improve the collaboration between the human and veterinary health sectors. This makes it possible to intervene quickly and efficiently in case of a zoonotic disease outbreak.

In 2014 the number of girls who were immunised against the human papilloma virus (HPV) rose. This virus can cause cervical cancer later in life.

RIVM proposes that the water quality standard for the insecticide imidacloprid be reduced by a factor of eight.

At the request of State Secretary Martin van Rijn (VWS), RIVM is carrying out an investigation into the safety of e-cigarettes.