The sixth European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) opened today at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC).
Since July 2011, 155 cases of the variant influenza A(H3N2) virus (A(H3N2)v) have been detected in the US: Hawaii (1), Indiana (113), Iowa (3), Maine (2), Ohio (30), Pennsylvania (3), Utah (1), and West Virginia (2). Most cases reported in Indiana and Ohio are recent cases. No human to human transmission has been determined among these recent cases.
This academic article describes virological findings and pathological consequences of a strain of influenza A(H3N8) recently identified as part of the investigations of an outbreak of pneumonia among harbour seals in New England in the autumn.
A report in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) MMWR this week describes the investigation of mild respiratory illness among swine and people at a county fair in Indiana, USA between 8 and 14 July 2012. This is an important report as it is very clearly documents simultaneous detection of H3N2v influenza viruses in humans and swine in close contact.
On 25 and 26 of July, two additional cases of soft-tissue anthrax among injecting drug users have been reported from the United Kingdom and Denmark. The genetic typing of the strains related to these cases is ongoing.
Influenza pandemics occur when new influenza viruses appear that transmit efficiently between humans and to which a substantial proportion of the population is susceptible
Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are highly resistant to antibiotics, leaving only a few options for treatment of infected patients, and thus represent a serious threat to public health.
The annual meeting of the healthcare-associated infections surveillance network (HAI-Net) and of the HAI-Net coordination group took place in Stockholm on 19-21 June 2012.
On 30 May - 1 June 2012, ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) jointly held their second Annual Influenza Working Meeting in Warsaw, Poland. The main work undertaken by delegates in over 20 sessions and 70 talks and discussions was reviewing progress in the last 12 months and agreeing on the work for the coming year.
WHO “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” is an annual campaign that makes part of major global effort to support healthcare workers to improve hand hygiene practices in healthcare settings, and thus support the prevention of often life-threatening healthcare-associated infections.