According to Article 2 of Commission Decision 2002/253/EC2 the case definitions laid down in Annex to that Decision should be updated to the extent necessary on the basis of the latest scientific data.

In accordance with Article 9 of the Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 establishing a European Centre for disease prevention and control3 (ECDC), the ECDC provided, at the request of the Commission and in agreement with its Advisory Forum, a technical document on case definitions aiding the Commission in the development of intervention strategies in the field of surveillance and response. The technical document has been further published on the web site of the ECDC. The case definitions listed in the Annex to Decision 2002/253/EC should be updated on the basis of this contribution.

Those case definitions have the purpose of facilitating the reporting on the diseases and special health issues listed in Annex I to Commission Decision 2000/96/EC of 22 December 1999 on the communicable diseases to be progressively covered by the Community network under Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council4. Decision 2002/253/EC however does not entail any reporting obligation.