On 18 April 2014, a case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection was laboratory confirmed in Athens, Greece in a patient returning from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Main symptoms upon initial presentation were protracted fever and diarrhoea, during hospitalisation he developed bilateral pneumonia and his condition worsened. During 14 days prior to onset of illness, he had extensive contact with the healthcare environment in Jeddah. Contact tracing revealed 73 contacts, no secondary cases had occurred by 22 April.

Between 18 May 2009 and 3 May 2010, a total of 149 fatal cases associated with pandemic influenza A (H1N1) were reported in Greece. Detailed case-based epidemiological information was available for the large majority of fatal cases. The time distribution follows an epidemic curve with a peak in the beginning of December 2009 and a second peak one month later. This is similar to that of laboratory confirmed cases and influenza-like illness cases from our sentinel surveillance system, with two weeks delay. The most commonly reported underlying conditions were chronic cardiovascular disease and immunosuppression, while the most frequently identified risk factor was obesity. These findings should be taken into consideration, when vaccination strategies are employed.

Since November 2005, there has been an outbreak of measles in Greece. Sporadic cases began to appear in September 2005.

In June 2006, an outbreak alert regarding cases of acute gastroenteritis in a region in North Eastern Greece (population 100,882 inhabitants), triggered investigations to guide control measures. The outbreak started the first days of June, and peaked in July. A descriptive epidemiological study, a virological characterization of the viral agent identified from cases as well as a phylogenetic analysis was performed. From June 5 to September 3, 2006 (weeks 23–44), 1,640 cases of gastroenteritis (45.2% male and 54.8% female, aged 3 months to 89 years) were reported. The overall attack rate for the period was 16.3 cases/1,000 inhabitants. About 57% of cases observed were under the age of 15 years. nalysis of faecal samples identified Norovirus GII strains. Fifteen different Norovirus GII strains were recorded, presenting a homology of 94.8% (86–97%) to GII strains obtained from GenBank. The long duration of the outbreak suggests an important role of person-to-person transmission, while the emergence of the outbreak was possibly due to contaminated potable water, although no viruses were detected in any tested water samples. This outbreak underscores the need for a national surveillance system for acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks.

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