Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 12, Issue 48, 29 November 2007

From 19 September to 19 November 2007, 46 measles cases related to a single outbreak were reported in the Piemonte region of northern Italy.

On 22 October 2007, a case of suspected measles in an unvaccinated two-year-old was notified to Thames Valley Health Protection Unit by North East and North Central London Health Protection Unit.

In late August 2007, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus of subtype H5N1 was reported in a large duck farm in Wachenroth, in the county Erlangen-Höchstadt, state of Bavaria, in Southern Germany (index farm).

Between 10 and 15 October 2007, the national reference laboratory at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health detected Salmonella Weltevreden in samples from four gastroenteritis patients.

With the recent entry into force of the new International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), there is still significant concern as to whether broad compliance will be feasible given the challenges associated with reporting mechanisms and multilateral coordination.

An outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting among employees of an office in Suffolk, in the United Kingdom, was reported to the district council on 11 June 2007. An outbreak investigation was initiated immediately and a case control study was conducted to investigate the possibility of the outbreak being caused by contaminated food.