Tag Archives: surveillance system

Research – Enhanced Surveillance for Toxoplasmosis in England and Wales, 2008–2012

Posted on June 17, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Journals Toxoplasma

A report on Toxoplasma gondii by the UK Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food recommended that more accurate figures on the burden of disease in the UK are needed. We present the first 5 years of data from an enhanced surveillance scheme for toxoplasmosis in England and Wales. Between 2008 and 2012, 1824 cases were reported, with an average of 365 each year. There were 1109 immunocompetent cases, the majority presenting with lymphadenopathy, and 364 immunosuppressed cases, with central nervous system and systemic symptoms most frequently reported. There were also 190 pregnant and 33 congenital cases. Of the pregnant cases, 148 were asymptomatic (probably detected during screening), while 28 suffered a fetal loss or stillbirth. The enhanced surveillance system has led to an improvement in the detection of toxoplasmosis in England and Wales. However, numbers are still likely to be an underestimate, biasing towards the more severe infections.

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Canada – Norovirus Top Food Poisoning Bug in Canada

Posted on May 19, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning BulletinNorwalk_Caspid

Norovirus causes about one fourth of all food poisoning cases in Canada each year, according to a new study published in the May issue of the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. About 4 million Canadians, one in every eight, are sickened  by food poisoning each year, according to the study. Norovirus is also the leading cause of food poisoning in the U.S. where one in six people, or about 48 million, are stricken by foodborne illness each year.

The Canadian study looked at illnesses reported from a variety of sources including: the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System, the National Enteric Surveillance Program, enhanced national listeriosis surveillance, the provincial reportable disease surveillance system, national studies on gastrointestinal illness and C-EnterNet surveillance. Most of the illnesses reported, about 60 percent of them, were from unspecified agents.

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Research

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Reserch European Legionella Outbreaks 2009-2010

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

EurosurveillanceLegionella_Plate_01

The surveillance of Legionnaires’ disease (LD) in Europe is carried out by the European Legionnaires’ Disease Surveillance Network (ELDSNet) and coordinated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). All cases reported in 2009 and 2010 and meeting the European case definition were electronically transmitted to The European Surveillance System (TESSy) database. A total of 5,551 and 6,305 cases were reported by 29 European countries in 2009 and 2010, respectively. The age-standardised rate of all cases was 1.20 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, 12% higher than in 2009, which was consistent with the increasing trend observed since 2005. Most of this increase consisted of community-acquired cases reported by France, Germany and the Netherlands with dates of onset in August–September. The exceptionally hot summer of 2010 in some parts of Europe may have played a role in this increase.

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Posted in Bacteria, Legionella, Pathogen, Research, Water

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