Frozen corn is the likely source of an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes which has affected five EU Member States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) since 2015. This is the conclusion of a rapid outbreak assessment published today by EFSA and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). As of 8 March 2018, 32 cases including six deaths had been reported.
Since the publication of the rapid risk assessment on a multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup IVb, multi-locus sequence type 6 (MLST 6) on 6 December 2017, four EU Member States reported seven new confirmed outbreak cases. Two of these cases were fatal.
On 4 October 2017, Italy reported through the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) the detection of four Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases in the Apulia region. Cases are 21 to 37-year-old men, originally from Africa. All stated that they had been in Italy for more than three months. Dates for onset of symptoms ranged from 20 to 27 September 2017. The cases are agricultural workers in Ginosa and Castellaneta. Malaria vectors such as Anopheles labranchiae and Anopheles superpictus are present in Italy.
There has been a statistically significant increasing trend of listeriosis between 2008 and 2015, with the proportion of cases in the over 64 age group steadily increasing from 56.2% in 2008 to 64.1% in 2015.
Human cases of listeriosis and camylobacteriosis rose once again in 2014, continuing an upward trend that began in 2008. Salmonellosis cases increased slightly for the first time since 2008.
Each year on 5 May, the “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” campaign takes place as part of a major global effort led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve hand hygiene in healthcare settings.
2014, the focus of World Health day was on vector-borne diseases. World Health Day is a worldwide initiative celebrated every year on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948.
Human cases of campylobacteriosis decreased slightly in 2012 for the first time in five years, but campylobacteriosis remains the most commonly reported zoonotic disease and it is premature to suggest that this is the beginning of a downward trend. Salmonella cases in humans have continued to fall, marking a decrease for the seventh consecutive year. The trend in reported human cases of Listeria has been gradually increasing over the past four years. These are some of the main findings of the annual report on zoonoses and foodborne outbreaks in the European Union for 2012.