Eurosurveillance - Volume 17, Issue 23, 07 June 2012

In May 2012 a family outbreak of ciguatera food poisoning, affecting four people, was detected in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The outbreak was caused by eating amberjack fish (Seriola spp.) bought in a local market. This is the third outbreak of ciguatera food poisoning in the Canary Islands in 2012. We describe the epidemiology of this outbreak.

In March 2012 a 68-year-old woman was diagnosed with laryngeal diphtheria in a hospital in Västra Götaland Region, Sweden. Six days before symptom onset she had returned from a trip to western Africa where she had travelled accompanied by her husband. During the investigation, the 76-year-old husband was diagnosed with cutaneous diphtheria. Both patients were incompletely vaccinated against diphtheria. .

From February to May 2012, Mayotte experienced an outbreak of acute conjunctivitis with over 12,000 estimated cases, causing a significant burden on the primary healthcare system. It was most certainly caused by a coxsackievirus, as documented by isolation from a symptomatic traveller from the Comoros Islands in France. Tropical climate and poor hygiene conditions facilitate the spread of infectious diseases on Mayotte and in the region with risk of further exportation to mainland France and Europe.