Infectious diseases in Poland in 2017

The article contains an overview of epidemiological surveillance data on infectious diseases in Poland in 2017 with reference to data from 2016 and median from 2011-2015. This is another introductory article to the systematically conducted Epidemiological Chronicle of Epidemiological Review presenting the current epidemiological situation of selected infectious diseases. In justified cases, eg by cross-border threats, the study includes references to the epidemiological situation in other countries. The source data for this study are the applications of doctors to the State Sanitary Inspection, which in the form of summary lists or individual notifications are forwarded to the Department of Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and Surveillance of NIPH-PZH and after being prepared they are included in the bulletins “Infectious diseases and poisoning in Poland in 2017 “and” Protective vaccinations in Poland in 2017“. Data on deaths due to infectious diseases come from a list of the Department of Demographic and Labor Market Research of the Central Statistical Office. Discussion of epidemiological data begins with the most prevalent diseases in Poland, which are upper respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal infections. In the area of upper respiratory tract infections, attention is drawn to the increase in the number of reported cases in recent years, which may be at least partly related to the development of computerization of reports. The profile of gastrointestinal infections acquired in the non-hospital environment has been changing in recent years towards a clear predominance of infections with viral etiology in relation to bacterial infections. Regarding healthcareassociated infections, rotavirus infections predominate among children, and among adults, C. difficile infections constitute a serious, growing problem, which is largely associated with the use of antibiotics. Viral liver infections are still an important problem. B and C, and in 2017 also hepatitis A, which took the form of an epidemic. In other groups of diseases, there was no clear increase in threats compared to previous years. Despite a steady decline in incidence, tuberculosis has been the disease causing the highest number of deaths among infectious diseases for many years. In 2017, the highest number of deaths was caused by C. difficile infection.