In 2024, the number of people who became ill from salmonella rose again, continuing the trend from 2023. There were also more poultry farms contaminated with these bacteria. The main type found was Salmonella enteritidis. There were fewer bird flu infections at poultry farms compared to 2023.

The European Commission (EC) has designated RIVM as the current European Reference Lab (EURL) for vector-borne viral pathogens.

Throughout 2022, the Netherlands faced a persistent avian flu outbreak, affecting 76 poultry farms. The virus also infected numerous wild birds and various wild mammals. These findings are presented in the Zoonoses Report, an annual publication issued jointly by RIVM and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).

The outbreak of the H5N1 variant of avian flu was the most remarkable outbreak in 2021. In October of that year, the Netherlands experienced the start of the biggest outbreak of avian flu since 2003.

A study conducted at 185 dairy farms found the Campylobacter bacterium at 91% of those farms.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of the West Nile Virus in 2020 show that so-called emerging zoonoses pose a risk to the Netherlands.

Each year, at the request of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, RIVM prepares an overview of the most important zoonoses and indicates their prevalence in the

The focus of our annual report State of Zoonotic Diseases 2018 is prevention, with the emphasis on the production chains of foods of animal origin.