Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 5, Issue 50, 13 December 2001

Until 7 December 2001, Finland had enjoyed Category II status in the European Union assessment of geographical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk (GBR) when laboratory tests (Prionics Check test, immunocytochemistry and histopathology) confirmed the disease in a six year old cow that had been slaughtered after exhibiting typical symptoms of BSE (1).

Two cases of coccidioidomycosis (valley fever, a rare fungal infection) have been diagnosed in Europe in the past month. The first case was diagnosed in a Finnish man in his mid 50s who developed chills and fever in mid October, followed by severe respiratory symptoms. He was admitted to a hospital in Finland, and chest radiograph taken at the time showed pneumonic infiltrate.

From September 2000 and up until the end of that year, the national salmonella centre at the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM, the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment) has noted an explosive increase of isolates of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium definitive phage type (DT) 104 from humans, which has since plateaued at a level double that of previous years (1).

Investigations suggest that the latest case of inhalation anthrax in the United States may have arisen from an envelope that was cross contaminated by contact with other letters containing Bacillus anthracis. This case arose in a 94 year old resident of Oxford, Connecticut. She became unwell on 13 November with fever, cough, weakness, and muscle aches. She was admitted to hospital on 16 November but deteriorated despite treatment and died on 21 November.

Transmission of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in the United Kingdom (UK) is continuing, according to the latest results from the Public Health Laboratory Service Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre’s unlinked anonymous prevalence monitoring programme published in the Communicable Disease Report (1-4).

Correction for Aventis Pasteur withdraws VAQTA hepatitis A vaccines In last week’s article on the withdrawal of the VAQTA hepatitis A vaccines, it was stated that the vaccines were manufactured by Aventis Pasteur. This should have read that the vaccines were marketed by Aventis Pasteur in Europe.