Eurosurveillance - Volume 17, Issue 31, 02 August 2012

We report here the first blood donation positive for West Nile virus (WNV) by nucleic acid amplification testing collected in north-eastern Italy in July 2012. Partial sequencing of the WNV RNA demonstrated identity with a WNV lineage 1a genome identified in the same area in 2011 and divergence from the strain responsible for the outbreak in northern Italy in 2008-09. These data indicate that WNV activity in northern Italy is occurring earlier than expected and that different WNV strains are circulating. .

We posted a survey on the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s EURO 2012 Facebook profile to evaluate whether public health travel advice, specifically on the importance of measles vaccination, reached fans attending EURO 2012. Responses suggested that these messages were missed by 77% of fans. Social networks could serve as innovative platforms to conduct surveys, enabling rapid access to target populations at low cost and could be of use during upcoming mass gatherings such as the Olympics. .

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be one of the largest mass gathering events in British history. In order to minimise potential infectious disease threats related to the event, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has set up a suite of robust and multi-source surveillance systems. These include enhancements of already established systems (notification of infectious diseases, local and regional reporting, laboratory surveillance, mortality surveillance, international surveillance, and syndromic surveillance in primary care), as well as new systems created for the Games (syndromic surveillance in emergency departments and out-of-hours/unscheduled care, undiagnosed serious infectious illness surveillance). Enhanced existing and newly established surveillance systems will continue after the Games or will be ready for future reactivation should the need arise. In addition to the direct improvements to surveillance, the strengthening of relationships with national and international stakeholders will constitute a major post-Games legacy for the HPA.

A new surveillance system was developed to detect possible new or emerging infections presenting as undiagnosed serious infectious illness (USII) for use during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Designated clinicians in sentinel adult and paediatric intensive care units (ICU/PICUs) reported USII using an online reporting tool or provided a weekly nil notification. Reported cases were investigated for epidemiological links. A pilot study was undertaken for six months between January and July 2011 to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the system. In this six-month period, 5 adults and 13 children were reported by six participating units (3 ICUs, 3 PICUs). Of these 18 patients, 12 were reported within four days after admission to an ICU/PICU. Nine patients were subsequently diagnosed and were thus excluded from the surveillance. Therefore, only nine cases of USII were reported. No clustering was identified. On the basis of the pilot study, we conclude that the system is able to detect cases of USII and is feasible and acceptable to users. USII surveillance has been extended to a total of 19 sentinel units in London and the south-east of England during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.