Lyme disease costs EUR 20 million annually The societal costs of Lyme disease have been determined for the Netherlands for the first time. The disease appears to cost nearly EUR 20 million each year.
Every year, 300,000 tick bites in urban areas One in 5 tick bites occurs in an urban area. Although most tick bites occur in the countryside, many people are bitten in urban areas as well.
Guus Velders in Nature's "Ten people that mattered this year" Researcher Dr Guus Velders of RIVM has made the Nature top-10 list of 2016. This means that, according to Nature, he was one of the 10 most influential scientists in 2016.
RIVM research basis for historic climate agreement on HFCs Scientific research by RIVM’s Guus Velders stood partly at the basis of the HFC global climate agreement.
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).
Lab tests alone not conclusive for diagnosis of Lyme disease Lyme disease can cause a variety of complaints in patients. Laboratory tests for the disease can support medical practitioners in making a diagnosis but are not necessarily conclusive.
Without measures emissions of HFC greenhouse gases will increase rapidly Without global agreement on the use of HFCs, their contribution to the greenhouse effect may increase sharply to 10 percent of that of CO2 by 2050. The current contribution is less than 1 percent.
Major loss of healthy life years due to long-term complaints after Lyme disease The Netherlands is the first country where the burden of disease due to Lyme disease has been determined.
New Lyme disease study in the Netherlands At the start of the “Tick Awareness Week”, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Wageningen UR are commencing a large-scale study on the long-term effects of
Chikungunya infections in the Caribbean region Since August 2014, there has been an increase in the number of Chikungunya patients in the Caribbean region. Travellers who visit the region can become infected there.