[Infectious disease emergencies. Responsibility of municipal, state and federal health protection authorities with reference to the international health regulations].

Pandemic preparedness has become a catch phrase for politicians, government agencies and communities, both nationally and internationally. This is due to the increasing number of infectious diseases emergencies that are important challenges for health protection authorities, which was shown impressively when SARS emerged as the first pandemic in this millennium. In Germany, effective and efficient infection control is complex, with local health protection authorities having their own responsibilities. In the case of an emergency epidemic, regional health departments are responsible. Having authority over these are authorities on the federal state level as well as on the federal level. For the European Community, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was established. The mission of this agency is to identify, assess and communicate current and emerging threats to human health posed by infectious diseases.