Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 6, Issue 13, 28 March 2002

In the second half of 2001, the outpatients’ clinic for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) of the Erasmus Medisch Centrum Rotterdam (Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam) in the Netherlands reported 16 cases of infectious syphilis (six primary and 10 secondary cases), compared with four cases in the first half of 2001 and six cases in the whole of 2000 (figure 1).

Botulism has been reported in an injecting drug user in Dublin. The patient presented to hospital on 14 March 2002 with pseudo-bulbar palsy, paralysis and respiratory difficulty. The Central Public Health Laboratory in England has confirmed that the infection is due to Clostridium botulinum type A.

Originally devised in 1982 to celebrate the centenary of Robert Koch’s discovery of the tubercle bacillus, World TB Day is now promoted each year on 24 March. It is intended to promote awareness, knowledge, and motivation for action against tuberculosis (TB) worldwide.

While most national and subnational networks in Europe reported low clinical morbidity rates to the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (EISS, http://www.eiss.org) in the week 17 March (week 11), some central and northern European countries continued to report high or increasing levels of influenza activity (1).

Countries which are experiencing recent or current epidemics of the kind reported in the Eurosurveillance Weekly report of 14 February entitled ‘Recent increases in incidence of echoviruses 13 and 30 around Europe’ (020214) are encouraged to contact Franky Lever ([email protected]), who will be investigating enterovirus incidence in more detail as part of a master’s thesis.