Eurosurveillance - Volume 17, Issue 8, 23 February 2012

Recent reports from several northern European countries indicate an increase in detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in the past two years, notably in children aged 5-15 years. Analysis of our laboratory database showed a similar pattern, with a higher proportion of respiratory samples positive for M. pneumoniae by real-time PCR in paediatric patients aged 5-15 years. Our data indicate that in 2010 and 2011, France experienced the first epidemic peak of M. pneumoniae infection since 2005.

A substantial epidemic of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection was reported in late 2011 in some European countries. We report here an epidemic of M. pneumoniae infection that began in Jerusalem during 2010 and is still ongoing. This report complements current information on what might be a worldwide epidemic of M. pneumoniae infection that might require substantial coordinated international public health intervention.

This is the first reporting of the tick-borne zoonotic bacterium 'Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis' in Denmark. A total of 2,625 Ixodes ricinus ticks from 58 locations in Denmark were collected and analysed for 'Ca. Neoehrlichia mikurensis'. A nested PCR revealed the presence of the bacterium at three geographically separate locations, which indicates that it is widely established in ticks.

Research is ongoing on eighteen cases of Legionellosis, including four deaths, identified among tourists and employees in a hotel in Calp, Spain. Cases occurred during a period of two months, indicating the possibility of a point-source transmission at the hotel. An environmental investigation identified several positive samples in the hotel, which as a precautionary measure, was closed until requested improvements were made. Surveillance measures currently remain active.

Visiting wellness centres is considered safe and relaxing and might provide health benefits for visitors with certain cardiovascular, dermatological or respiratory diseases. On the other hand, wellness centres could pose health risks, especially with respect to Legionnaires' disease. We investigated the role of wellness centres in the occurrence of Legionnaires' disease by analysing the data of eight years (2002-2010) of source investigation in the Netherlands. There were 15 wellness centres identified as potential sources of infection for a total of 35 Legionnaires' disease patients. Twelve of these centres were positive for Legionella spp.: six for Legionella pneumophila, six for non-pneumophila Legionella spp.. Of the 65 positive environmental samples found during the wellness centre investigations, 41 were derived from shower heads. For two centres, the Legionella pneumophila strains in the collected samples had a genotype that was indistinguishable from the patient isolates. These results show that wellness centres are potential sources of Legionnaires' disease.

We describe trends in the occurrence of acute infectious gastroenteritis (1992 to 2009) and food-borne disease outbreaks (1996 to 2009) in Italy. In 2002, the Piedmont region implemented a surveillance system for early detection and control of food-borne disease outbreaks; in 2004, the Lombardy region implemented a system for surveillance of all notifiable human infectious diseases. Both systems are internet based. We compared the regional figures with the national mean using official notification data provided by the National Infectious Diseases Notification System (SIMI) and the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), in order to provide additional information about the epidemiology of these diseases in Italy. When compared with the national mean, data from the two regional systems showed a significant increase in notification rates of non-typhoid salmonellosis and infectious diarrhoea other than non-typhoid salmonellosis, but for food-borne disease outbreaks, the increase was not statistically significant. Although the two regional systems have different objectives and structures, they showed improved sensitivity regarding notification of cases of acute infectious gastroenteritis and, to a lesser extent, food-borne disease outbreaks, and thus provide a more complete picture of the epidemiology of these diseases in Italy.