In September 2010, two cases of autochthonous dengue fever were diagnosed in metropolitan France for the first time. The cases occurred in Nice, southeast France, where the vector Aedes albopictus is established.
Aedes aegypti is a highly specialized mosquito species feeding predominantly on humans and breeding in artificial water holding containers in urban areas, and currently restricted to subtropical and tropical areas. Williams et al. focus on the reasons why Ae. aegypti once occurred in locations where the mosquito does not occur anymore in Australia, the more temperate drier parts of the country.
In recent years human diseases due to mosquito-borne viruses were increasingly reported in Emilia-Romagna region (Italy), from the chikungunya virus in 2007 to the West Nile virus (WNV) in 2008. An extensive entomological survey was performed in 2009 to establish the presence and distribution of mosquito arboviruses in this region, with particular reference to flaviviruses.
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 paper describes a small retrospective observational study of Israeli travellers presenting to a tropical medicine clinic with a history of prolonged (4 weeks), non-traumatic arthralgia or arthritis over a 5 year period.
ECDC and EFSA have just launched the annual report on zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks in the European Union for 2009. The report shows that Salmonella cases in humans fell by 17% in 2009, marking a decrease for the fifth consecutive year
First annual meeting of the network since it was transferred to ECDC in March 2010. Among the objectives of the meeting is to to present the epidemiological situation of diphtheria in Europe for 2009.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and ECDC have published a joint opinion providing an overview of the latest available scientific information on possible links between Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) in animals and humans. This is the first comprehensive review of epidemiological and laboratory studies on possible links between TSEs in animals and humans at EU level.
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.