Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 12, Issue 5, 01 February 2007

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has achieved great successes since the World Health Assembly launched the project in 1988. However, the disease still remains endemic in four countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A new variant strain of Chlamydia trachomatis has recently been detected in, Sweden. This new variant contains a 377 base pair (bp) deletion in the region targeted by both Roche and Abbott assays for the detection of C. trachomatis.

A hospital in the northwest of Belgium has recorded 22 clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae expressing an unusual pattern of antibiotic susceptibility when testing for extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) between August and December 2006.

A correction has been made to the article 'Measles deaths fall by 60 percent worldwide: eradication on target'.