Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 12, Issue 36, 06 September 2007

Chikungunya fever is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes spp mosquitoes. The infection is endemic in parts of Africa, South-east Asia and on the Indian sub-continent.

The current outbreak of chikungunya fever in north-eastern Italy described above marks the first recorded occasion that this virus has been transmitted by mosquitoes within Europe. Aedes albopictus (often referred to as the “tiger mosquito”) is thought to be the main vector for the current outbreak in Italy.

On 17 March 2005, the Institut de Veille Sanitaire (InVS) launched an alert about the risk of chikungunya fever to the French territories in the Indian Ocean, based on information about an outbreak on the Comoros from the World Health Organization (WHO).

World Rabies Day will be inaugurated on 8 September 2007. This initiative involves human and animal health partners from local to international level with the goal of supporting human rabies prevention and animal rabies control through awareness and resources.

On Monday 12 August 2007, an injured Daubenton’s bat (Bat 1) was found on the first floor tower of Stokesay Castle in Shropshire in the United Kingdom (UK). Stokesay Castle is a 13th-century manor house in the countryside near the Welsh border that is open to the public.

In Table 2 of the article “Travel-associated legionnaires’ disease in Europe: 2005”, published in the January issue of Eurosurveillance monthly release, the part of Cyprus where the cluster was identified was mistakenly labelled as a non-EU country. A correction was made on 3 September 2007.