Today, the German authorities published a press release on the current Shiga toxin-producing E.coli outbreak. In their joint statement they recommended in particular to abstain from eating raw sprouts.
The authors analyzed data on 444 imported cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Sweden during the period 2000-2003. The risk for MRSA carriage or infection in returning travellers ranged from 0.1 per million travellers returning from Nordic countries to 59.4 per million travellers returning from North Africa and the Middle East.
The authors present data on 15 individuals infected by Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) -producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus. Intra-familial spread was documented in one case, and occupational transmission was most likely in another case. spa typing of the strains revealed a broad range of variants, though some strains were clonally related. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was found in three cases.
On the occasion of World Hand Hygiene Day, 5th May, ECDC is releasing new web pages dedicated to the Healthcare-associated Infections Surveillance Network (HAI-Net) – a European network for HAI surveillance, coordinated by ECDC.
Using surveillance data obtained from 21,888 imported Plasmodium falciparum cases in France during 1996-2003, factors independently associated with severe malaria (832 cases; ≈3.8%) were older age, European origin, travel to eastern Africa, absence of chemoprophylaxis, initial visit to a general practitioner, time to diagnosis of 4 to 12 days, and diagnosis during the fall-winter season.
This will be the first joint meeting of the EARS-Net and HAI-Net Coordination groups. The meeting will address epidemiological, microbiological and technical aspects related to surveillance and reporting of antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections.
This descriptive study, based on national surveillance data of reported malaria cases, travelers’ statistics and data on malaria chemoprophylaxis prescriptions, estimates the incidence and trends of imported malaria in the Netherlands.