TB, Lyme Disease, Measles, STDs to be Compulsory Reported by Medical Practitioners

Luxembourg's Ministry of Health has announced that, after a period of sharp decline, infectious diseases have become in recent years a real public health problem in the Grand Duchy: for example, the identification of new infectious agents (HIV, Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)), the increase in antimicrobial resistance or the pandemic influenza H1H2.

In order to ensure better surveillance of infectious diseases in the Grand Duchy, the Chamber of Deputies adopted the law of 1 August 2018 on the compulsory declaration of certain diseases, with a view to protecting public health.

As Health Minister Lydia Mutsch has pointed out "The health authorities will thus have the necessary information on a possible epidemic and will be able to apply the hygiene measures that will be required. This monitoring will also allow evaluation and adaptation of public health policies in comparison with our neighbouring countries."

With the coming into force of the law, certain diseases, such as tuberculosis, Lyme disease, measles or sexually transmitted diseases (eg AIDS, Syphilis, Hepatitis) must be compulsorily declared by doctors, dentists and / or the laboratory of analysis of medical biology.

"It is the responsibility of the health authorities to protect the population against infectious diseases by setting up information campaigns and preventive measures, such as vaccination".

All notifiable diseases, as well as those posing a serious threat to public health, or those for which the bacterial, viral or parasitic strain isolated from the patient or the biological material must be transferred to the national reference laboratory, are listed in a Grand-Ducal Regulation, endorsed by the Council of Government on 5 October 2018.