Eurosurveillance - Volume 17, Issue 5, 02 February 2012

In January 2012, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) conducted an email-based survey of European Union and European Economic Area countries to describe the existing surveillance activities for Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, recent findings and existence of clinical guidelines for the treatment of M. pneumoniae infection. Of the 20 countries that participated in the survey, seven reported increases in M. pneumoniae infections observed during the autumn and winter of 2011.

The number of cases of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection detected by laboratory-based surveillance increased in Finland in late 2010. During 2011, the number of cases was four times higher than during the previous epidemic in 2005. The 2011 epidemic affected mostly school-age children. The increased number of cases was probably not due to changes in laboratory procedures, but public interest may have had an effect, since the number of Google queries followed closely the epidemic curve.

Epidemics of Mycoplasma pneumoniae have recently been reported from England and Wales and from Denmark. A similar increase in M. pneumoniae infections was noted in Norway late autumn 2011.The epidemic has resulted in shortage of erythromycin and the use of alternative antibiotics has been recommended.

Denmark experienced two waves of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection during autumn and early winter in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Both affected the whole country. The proportion of positive results was almost the same for both, indicating that the two waves were probably of equal size. High macrolide consumption during the epidemics did not seem to affect levels of macrolide resistance in M. pneumoniae, which remain low in Demark (1% to 3%).

An outbreak of the monophasic variant of Salmonella enterica serotype 4,[5],12:i:- occurred in November and December 2011 in France. Epidemiological investigation and food investigation with the help of supermarket loyalty cards suggested dried pork sausage from one producer as the most likely source of the outbreak. Despite the absence of positive food samples, control measures including withdrawal and recall were implemented.

From October to December 2011, an outbreak of 26 cases of cryptosporidiosis occurred in a day-care centre in Gipuzkoa, Spain. The infection spread from person to person and affected 24 children under two years of age (attack rate: 38%) and two caregivers. Cryptosporidium oocysts were observed in 10 of 15 samples. During 2010, only four cases of cryptosporidium were detected in Gipuzkoa, and 27 overall in Spain.