Infectious Diseases News Brief - June 19, 2009

[Current Issue -Table of contents]

Norovirus And Salmonella Were Leading Causes Of Foodborne Disease Outbreaks In the US In 2006

Norovirus and Salmonella were the leading causes of foodborne disease outbreaks in 2006, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, based on investigations of foodborne disease outbreaks provides the most recent report of how many illnesses were linked to specific types of foods. There were 1,270 reported foodborne disease outbreaks in 2006, which resulted in 27,634 illnesses and 11 deaths, according to the surveillance report prepared by the agency's OutbreakNet team. Among these 1,270 outbreaks, 621 had a confirmed single cause; the cause was most often norovirus (54 percent of outbreaks), followed by Salmonella (18 percent of outbreaks). The analysis was done on data from the 243 outbreaks in which a single food commodity was identified and reported to CDC. The food commodities associated with the largest number of cases of illness in 2006 were poultry (21 percent of all outbreak-associated cases), leafy vegetables (17 percent), and fruits-nuts (16 percent). The food commodity categories defined by CDC are fish, crustaceans, mollusks, dairy, eggs, beef, game, pork, poultry, grains-beans, oils-sugars, fruits-nuts, fungi, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, sprouts, and vegetables from a vine or stalk.

Source: Medical News Today 16 June 2009
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154043.php
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr.

WHO probes report of 'Black Death' in Libya

Libyan authorities have reported an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean coastal town of Tubruq, and the World Health Organization was sending a team to investigate. If the cases can be confirmed, these would be the first in more than two decades in Libya of the disease known in medieval times as the Black Death, according to John Jabbour, a Cairo-based emerging diseases specialist at WHO. The WHO is deploying a mission to Libya to investigate the situation. Preliminary information from Libyan authorities showed 16 to 18 reported cases including one death. Tripoli has asked for assistance from the global health body. Bubonic plague, noticeable by black bumps that sometimes develop on victims' bodies, causes severe vomiting and fever and still kills around 100 to 200 people annually worldwide. It can kill within days if not treated with antibiotics. A plague epidemic of 1347 to 1351 was one of the deadliest recorded in human history, killing about 75 million people, according to some estimates, including more than a third of Europe's population. That pandemic was thought to have begun in Asia, then spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Tubruq, where the new cases were reported, is approximately 125 km from the Egyptian border and was the scene of previous plague cases decades ago. Rodents carry plague, which is virtually impossible to wipe out and moves through the animal world as a constant threat to humans. Globally the World Health Organization reports about 1,000 to 3,000 plague cases each year, with most in the last five years occurring in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United States sees about 10 to 20 cases each year.

Source: Reuters 17 June 1009
http://www.canada.com/health/probes+report+Black+Death+Libya/1700996/story.html

Trends in the Incidence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection in Children’s Hospitals in the United States

The incidence of and outcomes associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in hospitalized children have been incompletely characterized. The researchers performed a retrospective, observational study using the Pediatric Health Information System, a database of clinical and financial data from >40 freestanding US children’s hospitals. Using discharge coding data, they characterized S. aureus infections in children <18 years of age who were hospitalized during the period from 1 January 2002 through 31 December 2007.During this 6-year study period, the researchers identified 57,794 children with S. aureus infection, 29,309 (51%) of whom had MRSA infection. The median age of patients with S. aureus infection was 3.1 years (interquartile range, 0.8–11.2 years), and less than one-third of these patients had complex, chronic medical conditions. Over time, there was a significant increase in cases of MRSA infection (from 6.7 cases per 1000 admissions in 2002 to 21.1 cases per 1000 admissions in 2007; P= .02, by test for trend, whereas the incidence of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus infection remained stable (14.1 cases per 1000 patient-days in 2002 to 14.7 cases per 1000 patient-days in 2007; P= .85, by test for trend. Of the 38,123 patients whose type of infection was identified, 23,280 (61%) had skin and soft-tissue infections. The incidences of skin and soft-tissue infection, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, and bacteremia that were caused by S. aureus increased over time, and these increases were due exclusively to MRSA. The mortality rate for hospitalized children with MRSA infection was 1% (360 of 29,309 children). There has been a recent increase in the number of hospitalized children with MRSA infection. This increase is largely driven by, but is not limited to, an increase in skin and soft-tissue infections. The mortality rate for hospitalized children with MRSA infection is low.

Source: Clinical Infectious Diseases Journal 1 July 2009, volume 49, number 1