Communicable disease threats report, 4-10 August 2013, week 32

​The ECDC Communicable Disease Threats Report is a weekly bulletin intended for epidemiologists and health professionals in the area of communicable disease prevention and control. This week’s report includes:

West Nile fever

Further human cases of West Nile fever (WNF) have been detected in the EU and its neighbours. The first human case in Italy this season was confirmed in the Rovigo province in the Veneto region. This province did not record any cases of WNF in 2012. Also, two areas in Greece reported cases for the first time this year: Imathia and Xanthi. Serbia reported 29 cases in the past week in Grad Beograd (Belgrade) and the surrounding regions of Sremski, Juzno-banatski, Juzno-backi, Kolubarski and Podunavski, which are newly affected areas this year.

Hepatitis A in the Nordic countries

Two new cases linked to an outbreak of hepatitis A virus (HAV) have been identified in Denmark and Finland. Since 1 October 2012, over 100 confirmed or probably cases have been found in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the majority of those in spring 2013 with a marked decline in recent months.  Since the suspected vehicle of infection (frozen strawberries) could be kept in household freezers for several months, these new cases are not unexpected.