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[Structure of the Surveillance and management of infectious diseases in the European Union. The EU surveillance networks and the European Centre for Disease Prevention und Control (ECDC)].

In 1998, the European Parliament and Council published the Decision on setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance of communicable diseases in the Community. As a first step, the Network Committee (representatives of the Member States) and the Commission determined the diseases for European surveillance. Subsequently, case definitions were developed for these diseases. For rapid information exchange among Member States on serious diseases, outbreaks and the control measures taken, a web-based, password protected early warning system was established. In parallel disease-specific networks were developed for enhanced surveillance of important diseases. A training programme (EPIET) and a European bulletin (Eurosurveillance) complete the network. The directive on the monitoring of zoonoses constitutes the basis for the joint analysis and evaluation of data on human illnesses, animals and foods. Starting in May 2005, the coordination and further development of the Community Network will be carried out by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Communicable Disease Control↗

["Emerging infectious diseases". Dengue-fever, West-Nile-fever, SARS, avian influenza, HIV].

Some emerging infectious diseases have recently become endemic in Germany. Others remain confined to specific regions in the world. Physicians notice them only when travelers after infection in endemic areas present themselves with symptoms. Several of these emerging infections will be explained. HIV is an example for an imported pathogen which has become endemic in Germany. SARS and avian influenza are zoonoses with the potential to spread from person to person. Avian influenza in humans provides a possibility for the reassortment of a potential new pandemic strain. Outbreaks of dengue fever in endemic areas are reflected in increased infections in travelers returning from these areas. Currently, West-Nile-virus infections are only imported into Germany. The timely implementation of diagnostic, therapeutic and infection control measures requires physicians to include these diseases in their differential diagnosis. To achieve this goal, good cooperation between physicians, laboratories and the public health service is essential.

Animals↗

Porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) was not transmitted from transplanted porcine endothelial cells to baboons in vivo.

The discussion about the clinical risk of zoonoses in xenotransplantation has recently culminated in the demand for a moratorium on clinical organ transplantation using pig donors. The basis for this discussion was a recent report showing a possible trans-species transmission of pig endogenous retrovirus (PERV) by in vitro transfer to human cell lines. At present, it remains unclear if this could also happen in vivo or in the setting of xenotransplantation. Potential in vivo transfer of PERV after xenotransplantation was investigated in an experimental pig-to-baboon cell transplantation model. Baboons were immunosuppressed with high-dose cyclophosphamide (total 45-150 mg/kg) and transplanted with primary porcine aortic endothelial cells (PAEC). Tissue samples (skin, lymph nodes, lung) and peripheral blood leukocytes of 15 baboons, taken about 12-24 months after transplantation of PAEC, were then analyzed by PCR and showed no PERV infection. PERV expression in PAEC was also analyzed: PERV mRNA and reverse transcriptase in the culture supernatant could be detected. In spite of the release of retroviral particles from cultured PAEC, transplantation of these cells into baboon recipients did not result in virus transmission, not even under heavy immunosuppression.

Animals↗

Food-borne intestinal trematodiases in humans.

Food-borne trematodiases still remain a public health problem world-wide, despite changes in eating habits, alterations in social and agricultural practices, health education, industrialization, environmental alteration, and broad-spectrum anthelmintics. Food-borne trematodiases usually occur focally, are still persistently endemic in some parts of the world, and are most prevalent in remote rural places among school-age children, low-wage earners, and women of child-bearing age. Intestinal fluke diseases are aggravated by socio-economic factors such as poverty, malnutrition, an explosively growing free-food market, a lack of sufficient food inspection and sanitation, other helminthiases, and declining economic conditions. Control programs implemented for food-borne zoonoses and sustained in endemic areas are not fully successful for intestinal food-borne trematodiases because of centuries-old traditions of eating raw or insufficiently cooked food, widespread zoonotic reservoirs, promiscuous defecation, and the use of "night soil" (human excrement collected from latrines) as fertilizer. This review examines food-borne intestinal trematodiases associated with species in families of the Digenea: Brachylaimidae, Diplostomidae, Echinostomatidae, Fasciolidae, Gastrodiscidae, Gymnophallidae, Heterophyidae, Lecithodendriidae, Microphallidae, Nanophyetidae, Paramphistomatidae, Plagiorchiidae, and Strigeidae. Because most of the implicated species are in the Echinostomatidae and Heterophyidae, emphasis in the review is placed on species in these families.

Animals↗

Outbreak of Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus infections on the island of Gran Canaria associated with the consumption of inadequately pasteurized cheese.

Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus infections are infrequent in humans. A clinical and epidemiological study of a milk-borne outbreak caused by this organism is described. Fifteen patients (5 females, 10 males) with a median age of 70 years (range 47-86) were infected. Twelve (80%) had underlying diseases. Infection with S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus presented as primary bacteremia in six cases, as bacteremia associated with aortic aneurism in four cases, as septic arthritis in two cases, as pneumonia in two cases, and as meningitis in one case. Five (33.3%) patients died. A case-control study proved that consumption of inadequately pasteurized cheese of a specific brand was associated with S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus disease (OR=4.5; 95% CI 1.57-19.27; p<0.001). This outbreak serves as a reminder that S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus causes serious infections that are usually zoonoses. Identification of beta-hemolytic streptococci to the species level to detect contaminated foods of animal origin is important for preventing new food-borne outbreaks. For a precise characterization of the isolates, the application of molecular markers is recommended.

Aged↗

Five decades of tick-man interaction in Denmark--an analysis.

The tick Ixodes ricinus (L.) is a known vector of several zoonotic diseases such as Tick Borne Encephalitis (TBE), Lyme borreliosis and ehrlichiosis. The interaction between humans and ticks are at the very core of our understanding of the epidemiology of tick borne zoonoses, but only few experimental studies have been performed. Hence our understanding of the epidemiology of tick-borne disease has to rest on the assumption that the potential tick activity, which is reflected in tick samples from the vegetation or samples from animals, corresponds with tick-human interaction. Observations which may reflect the long term tick-human contact are available in Denmark. These observations are records of requests for information on I. ricinus forwarded to the Danish Pest Infestation Laboratory (DPIL). This article was based on the assumption that the request could be seen as a measure of tick-human interaction reflecting the tick densities in relative terms. The perceived tick densities given by the number of requests on I. ricinus divided by the total number of requests to DPIL was fairly stable from 1965 to 1985, while it doubled during the late 1980's reaching a higher level in the beginning of the 1990's. The perceived density was well explained by the variation in temperature, solar radiation (monthly measurement) and deer abundance (yearly assessments). The measure of deviation, i.e. the ratio between observed requests + 1 and modelled requests + 1, for the individual years varied between 0.91 and 1.20, with considerable within-year variation. A gradual change in periodicity of the residual might suggest gradually changing tick population dynamics. In conclusion, the perceived tick densities appear to be consistent with the current knowledge of tick ecology and tick-transmitted diseases.

Animals↗

First case of Brucella suis biovar 1 infection in a dog in Switzerland.

As one of the most common zoonoses globally, brucellosis threatens not only animals but also humans with Brucella (B.) melitensis, B. abortus and B. suis biovar 1&3, being more virulent for humans than B. canis, B. ovis and B. suis biovar 2. Canine brucellosis is caused mainly by B. canis, however, B. suis infections in dogs have been reported sporadically in Europe and more frequently in Australia. B. suis infection in dogs is mainly associated with hunting or wild-animal exposure and rarely with consumption of commercial raw meat products. In Switzerland, B. canis is sporadically diagnosed in dogs and B. suis biovar 2 is present in wild boar and brown hare. We report a case of brucellosis in a dog from Switzerland, neither having a history of hunting nor travel-associated risk of exposure. The intact male dog showed clinical signs (fever and epididymitis) consistent with brucellosis, which was confirmed by culture and molecular methods in urine and by serological methods. Culture and subsequent whole genome sequencing revealed the isolate as B. suis biovar 1, ST-14. The most closely related strain was shown to be a strain isolated in 2021 from a dog in Germany. Based on the lack of any previous report, infection by B. suis in dogs has not previously been diagnosed in Switzerland. This case highlights the need for vigilance regarding this less expected pathogen of high zoonotic importance in dogs.

Animals↗

A review of the world epidemiology of rabies.

A number of countries throughout the world have been free from rabies for many years; some are reported to have eliminated the disease and in others it has reappeared after variable periods of time. Apart from these minor variations, however, the global distribution of rabies over the last five to ten years appears unchanged and the disease continues to pose both public health and economic problems of varying severity in all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Most of the data presented here are abstracted from the most recent surveys of the World Health Organization, the Annual Rabies Summary for the United States and the Pan American Zoonoses Centre's "Rabies Surveillance for the Americas". The vagaries of international reporting, accurate in some cases and undoubtedly imprecise in others, demand a cautious interpretation of the available data and suggest that the world picture be viewed as an impression rather than as a precise record.

Africa↗

The American leishmaniases: some observations on their ecology and epidemiology.

As the first species of Leishmania encountered were the agents of human visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis, it is understandable that studies on these parasites for a long time concentrated on those organisms commonly causing disease in man. Epidemiological studies over the past 20 years or so, however, have led to the inescapable conclusion that the genus Leishmania is comprised of numerous species of well adapted parasites, in a wide range of mammals, throughout most of those tropical and subtropical regions of the world where phlebotomine sandflies exist (Diptera: Psychodidae). Many of the leishmanias probably never gain entrance into man: due either to an incapacity to survive in his tissues, or (more likely) because the natural sandfly vectors do not feed on him. The leishmanias that do infect man are, nevertheless, among the greatest protozoological scourges of mankind, and a better understanding of their life-cycles may well help in future prevention or control of the diseases they cause. With few exceptions the leishmaniases are zoonoses, with a major source of infection in wild or domestic animals. In the Americas, the disease is essentially a rural one, and most commonly acquired by those penetrating forested or wooded regions. The following paper deals with the better known human leishmaniases of the New World, and some new ones, and discusses the major historical events in the laborious task of elucidating their ecology and epidemiology.

Americas↗

The quality control of tuberculin PPD products from seven Latin American laboratories.

The Pan American Health Organization, through its Pan American Zoonoses Center (CEPANZO), distributes the concentrated stock solution of PPD batch RT23 (1 mg ml-1 = 50,000 TU ml-1) to national central laboratories. In the laboratories the stock solution is diluted to 2 TU/0.1 ml and dispensed with the addition of Tween 80 and either chinosol or phenol as preservatives in rubber-stoppered vials for use in the Mantoux test. The expiry date is usually fixed at six months after filling. Samples of nine lots of PPD 2 TU from seven countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay) were received by CEPANZO for quality control. The biological activity and phenol concentrations of these samples were assayed periodically after storage at 4, 25 or 37 degrees C either unopened or opened and re-used in a manner simulating extreme field conditions of use and storage. The object of the study was to determine the stability of the biological activity as well as the maintenance of sterility of these conditions with a view to assessing the need for stricter requirements for the labelling of tuberculin. The results obtained showed that PPD 2 TU with 0.4-0.5% (w/v) phenol added, and dispensed in vials, was stable in its biological activity and maintained its sterility. Therefore, it seems unnecessary to issue stricter requirements than those currently applied.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Child's tuberculous lymphadenitis with fistula evoked by the BCG stem.

Lymphadenitis with persisting fistualas in children is almost always conditioned by specific inflammation, tuberculosis, zoonoses, actinomycoses. Tuberculosis of the lymph nodes can either be primary or post-primary. In this case report we have dealt with a case of a rare primary lymph node tuberculosis that arose as a result of vaccination complications. Disturbance of cellular immunity was the reason for BCG lymphadenitis. In references, the reasons for BCG-itis as well as vaccination contra-indications have been described.

BCG Vaccine↗

Suggestions for the construction, analysis and use of descriptive epidemiological models for the modernization of meat inspection.

There is consensus that scientifically validated, quantitative assessments of actual public health risks are a prerequisite for any sound modernization of current meat inspection procedures. This article outlines how such analyses could be conducted. Approaches that rely heavily upon extrapolations from theoretical dose-effect relationships are inadequate for the assessment of microbiological health risks associated with the production and consumption of meat. The use of highly structured and very elaborate descriptive epidemiological models covering the entire period from stable to table can be considered a promising solution. Health risks can be quantified by means of incidence rates and the influence of risk factors by means of odds ratios and (population) attributable fractions. A great advantage is that when it is not possible to quantify risks exactly, the descriptive models are detailed enough to be used in a hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP)-like approach and for writing validated codes of good manufacturing practice (GMP). There are, however, several conditions which have to be met before risk assessment can become the foundation of safety assurances for meat, such as active legislative support and the setting up of monitoring systems for zoonoses and other health hazards in animals and humans.

Data Collection↗

Pathogenic micro-organisms in slaughterhouse sludge--a survey.

During slaughtering of animals and subsequent meat processing the process water used becomes polluted with organic matter of animal origin (i.e. protein and fat). This organic sludge is, in principle, a product suitable for animal feeding. To investigate the microbiological contamination level of sludge, raw sludge was collected at pig (n = 8) and poultry (n = 5) slaughterhouses. Both flocculated and aerobically activated sludge was monitored. Slaughterhouse sludge was heavily contaminated with Enterobacteriaceae (6.3-10.0 in log10 N/gram dry matter) and enterococci (4.6-7.9). Clostridia were present in sludge at a level of 3.1-5.8 (in log10 N/g DM). Salmonella was present in the sludge from all slaughterhouses examined. Yersinia enterocolitica serotypes O:3 and O:9 were found in sludge from seven out of thirteen slaughterhouses. The prevalence of Campylobacter jejuni/coli was higher in flocculated poultry sludge than in both flocculated pig sludge and aerobically activated pig sludge. Obviously, decontamination of the sludge is mandatory when it is to be applied as a feed constituent, to prevent bacterial cycles from occurring in livestock, as well as the spread of human pathogenic zoonoses like campylobacter, salmonella and yersinia, to minimize loss of protein quality by the microbial breakdown of amino acids and the formation of possible toxic metabolites in sludge during storage.

Abattoirs↗

Helminths as heirlooms and souvenirs: a review of new world paleoparasitology.

Evidence from studies on ancient human feces, intestinal contents and organs of preserved bodies has established that Enterobius vermicularis, Trichuris trichiura, Diphyllobothrium spp and probably Trichinella spiralis infected humans in the pre-Columbian New World. These species, and perhaps other common human helminths for which there is not yet convincing evidence, probably accompanied transberingeal immigrants and their dogs, and thus can be seen as heirloom parasites. Early humans on the American continents were affected by helminths of native animals such as Paragonimus and Cryptocotyle, and these have also been found in precontact human remains. Michael Kliks considers that the indigenous parasites infecting early Americans may be viewed as zoonotic souvenirs of some 50 millennia of migrations from Alaska to Patagonia. Among the most serious zoonoses would have been infection by cystic hydatid larvae of echinococcid tapeworms, the many enzootic filarial worms, and a variety of larval trematodes and nematodes.

Journal Article↗

Hydatid disease in China.

Hydatid disease is one of the world's most geographically widespread zoonoses. It is present on all inhabited continents and occurs in tropical, subtropical, temperate, sub-arctic and arctic regions. The two countries with the greatest areas over which transmission occurs are almost certainly the Soviet Union and China. Until recently, however, very little information about hydatidosis in China was available outside the country(1). Since the 'open-door' policy over the past few years the great importance of hydatid disease in north and western China is gradually being realized.

Journal Article↗

Texas fever, two-headed calves and the Hatch Act--100 years and counting for veterinary parasitology in the United States.

The structure, historical development and major research problems confronting veterinary parasitology in the U.S.A. are reviewed 100 years after the cooperative federal-state experiment station system was authorized through passage of the Hatch Act by the U.S. Congress in 1887. The story of Texas cattle fever eradication from the American south exemplifies historical and functional aspects of the experiment station system. The distribution and importance of parasite problems of livestock, companion animals and parasitic zoonoses are summarized in the context of larger national agricultural issues.

Animals↗

Diagnosis of canine echinococcosis: comparison of coproantigen and serum antibody tests with arecoline purgation in Uruguay.

Echinococcus granulosus is one of the most important and widespread of the helminth zoonoses. Diagnosis of E. granulosus infection in dogs currently relies on arecoline dosing and detailed examination of the purge for adult worms. Two immunodiagnostic tests (ELISA) based on genus specific coproantigen detection or serum antibody (IgG, IgA and IgE) detection were compared against arecoline purgation for the detection of Echinococcus in naturally infected dogs in Uruguay. The coproantigen ELISA had a sensitivity of 76.9% compared with 34.6% for the serum IgG ELISA when assessed against 26 purge positive dogs (purge worm count range 1-4331). Coproantigen reactivity was positively correlated (r = 0.65) to purge worm count, with a threshold at over 20 worms. There was no positive correlation of antibody levels with worm counts. In 26 matched Echinococcus positive dog samples, the overall sensitivity of serological detection increased to 69.2% when seroreactivity for IgA and IgE antibodies were included and to 96.2% for both coproantigen and antibody assays combined. The detection of current infection of individual dogs with E. granulosus by coproantigen ELISA has the potential to replace arecoline purgation, while specific serum antibody detection should be useful in assessing Echinococcus exposure in dog populations.

Animals↗

The proper use and benefits of veterinary antimicrobial agents in swine practice.

There are three main reasons for using antimicrobial agents in pig production: animal welfare, carcase quality and economics. The need to treat sick animals and to mitigate the effects of infection is of paramount humanitarian importance. The reduction of the pathological effects of infection is an essential aspect of carcase quality and of possible value in the control of potential zoonoses. It is beyond dispute that the judicious use of antimicrobial agents improves growth efficiency. In addition there are economic benefits to be gained from the control of infection in terms of improved carcase quality and reduced mortality. When antimicrobial agents are used, careful consideration must be given to their choice. An understanding of the disease complexes of pig herds, of pharmacokinetics and of methods of administration is necessary to achieve safe and cost-effective medication. Bacterial resistance to antimicrobial agents in pig production is of importance only in special circumstances where eradication of a disease is being attempted. Veterinarians specialising in pig production are concerned that there is a climate of restriction of use and availability of suitable agents which could jeopardize animal health and welfare.

Animal Welfare↗