Eurosurveillance - Volume 16, Issue 8, 24 February 2011

The first case of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Italy was reported in 2009. We performed a study over a period of seven months in 2010 to survey the circulation of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPC) in a 1,500-bed university hospital in northern Italy and report the presence and rapid increase of these multidrug-resistant bacteria. The results raise a major concern about these pathogens and demonstrate the urgent need for infection control and antibiotic stewardship programmes.

We report on an ongoing outbreak of 119 cases of mumps virus infection in the Oban area of Scotland, from 29 November 2010 to 31 January 2011. The median age of cases was 20 years, with the highest incidence in the 13-19-year-olds. A total of 53 cases had received two doses of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, in accordance with the United Kingdom vaccination schedule, while 33 had received only one dose and 30 had not been vaccinated.

Between 19 January and 17 February 2011, 10 cases of measles (eight laboratory-confirmed and two probable) were reported in Oslo with the majority of cases in a mainly unvaccinated immigrant community. Of these, two cases were identified outside the immigrant community, in Norwegian children.

We report the first nine confirmed cases of human adenovirus 14p1 infection (HAdV-14p1), identified at different locations in Ireland between October 2009 and July 2010. These were the first notifications in Ireland and all were sporadic cases. Following these notifications, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre set up an enhanced surveillance system for HAdV-14p1infection. Seven cases were male and five were aged less than one year. Three patients died, giving a case fatality rate of 33%. It should be noted that cases presented here were diagnosed on presentation to hospital and may represent the severe end of the spectrum of HAdV 14 disease in Ireland.