[When the daily chronicles coincide with the most "hard" epidemiology: the case of migrants to Europe].

UNLABELLED: The migration from Africa to Europe has become one of the most dramatic situations of the violation of fundamental rights of the first decade of the new millennium. METHODS: As the official source of epidemiology do not recognize the data of peoples who die and/or disappear while trying to reach European borders, only "informal" sources can be used to trace the fate of this populations. A Mediterranean Observatory called Fortress Europe (http://fortresseurope. blogspot.com) has emerged over the last several years as a reference documentation centre for this controversial areas. RESULTS: The tables which summarize some of the most striking data on mortality and disappearances are presented and commented as examples of how real life epidemiology cannot be considered a specific or exclusive medical discipline. CONCLUSION: Human rights must increasingly be considered one of the key measures and indicators of the joint priorities of societal and health care systems.