The European Network for Diagnostics of Imported Viral Diseases (ENIVD) – 12 years of strengthening the laboratory diagnostic capacity in Europe

Changes in lifestyle, travel, and migration, as well as other factors such as climate change and terrorism have increased the vulnerability of the human population to imported, rare, and emerging infections. Numerous virus outbreaks have occurred in recent years, such as Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Democratic Republic of Congo (1995, 2001-2003), Uganda (2000) and Gabon (2001-2003), West Nile fever in the United States since 1999, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China in 2002, Chikungunya in the Indian Ocean and India since 2004/2005, and, most recently, avian influenza.