From April to early July 2012 an unusual number and pattern of fatalities among young children were reported by Kantha Bopa Children’s Hospital in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh. The patients presented with fever, respiratory distress and signs of encephalitis, and most of the children were under 3 years old.
The Cambodian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) are currently investigating a number of cases an undiagnosed illness that has resulted in the deaths of several children in Cambodia in the past 2 months. According to the WHO, the latest laboratory results indicate that “a significant proportion of the samples tested positive for Enterovirus 71 (EV-71), which causes hand foot and mouth disease”.
On 3 July the Cuban Ministry of Health confirmed an outbreak of cholera in the south-western city of Manzanillo. It is the first time in almost 150 years that an outbreak of cholera is reported in the island.
As of May 2012, Vietnam continues to see sustained high incidence of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) since the beginning of the year. China, Hong Kong (China), Macao (China) and Singapore have been reporting an increase in number of cases.
This study, strong of an almost complete follow-up of all children born in Denmark from 2003 to 2008, provides evidence that the DTaP-IPV-HiB vaccine is not associated to an overall increased risk of febrile seizures and epilepsy.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have published the second joint EU report on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria affecting humans, animals and food.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have published their annual report on zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks in the European Union for 2010.
The coordination of European FWD outbreaks can be difficult to manage. In order to help Member State countries with the task, ECDC is launching an online toolkit which provides investigators with a series of tools for the investigation of an outbreak that involves at least two EU Member States.
In a joint seminar by Directorate General for Health and Consumer Affairs (DG SANCO), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and ECDC at the European Parliament, Marc Sprenger highlighted the decrease of Salmonella infections in EU.