Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 6, Issue 28, 11 July 2002

Biowarfare and bioterrorism were subjects that interested few outside a fairly small group of experts until the autumn of 2001. The deliberate release of biological agents through the mail system in the United States completely changed awareness (1), and bioterror moved high on the political and scientific agenda worldwide. The fight against bioterrorism became a key political priority, and several countries, particularly in North America and Europe, took measures to increase preparedness and response capacity to threats and attacks involving the use of biological and chemical agents.

Since the first reports of glycopeptide resistant enterococci (GRE) in 1987, concern has been expressed about enterococcal van genes, which encode vancomycin resistance, reaching Staphylococcus aureus. This often voiced fear has now been realised, with the reported isolation of a VanA MRSA (vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) >128 mg/L; teicoplanin MIC 32 mg/L) from the tip of a dialysis catheter and from a chronic foot ulcer of a patient in Michigan, in the United States; glycopeptide resistant Enterococcus faecalis (genotype not specified) was also isolated from the ulcer (1).

On 24 June 2002 the Departament de Sanitat i Seguretat Social de Generalitat de Catalunya (department of health and social security of the regional government of Catalonia) was notified of several cases of gastroenteritis with fever in people who had all eaten pastries known as ‘cocas.’ These pastries, which are made with eggs and have a custard filling, are produced for the festival of San Juan, which takes place annually in Catalonia on the evening of 23 June. The ‘cocas’ were all made and purchased at the same bakery in a tourist town in the province of Girona. The eggs used to make the custard in this bakery were pasteurised and cooked. The bakery is now under investigation. Three other bakeries also made and sold ‘cocas’ on 23 June, but none of the cases have been linked to these establishments.

Statistical data for 2001 from the national and regional reporting systems for infectious diseases in the Barents and Baltic Sea regions have been published on the EpiNorth homepage (www.epinorth.org).

The March and April issues of the monthly bulletin Eurosurveillance, also funded by the European Commission, are now online (in English and French) at http://www.eurosurveillance.org/