Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 6, Issue 3, 17 January 2002

In mid October 2001, the Nationales Referenzzentrum für Salmonellen und andere bakterielle Enteritiserreger (national reference laboratory (NRL) for salmonella and other bacterial pathogens) in Hamburg, Germany, informed the Robert Koch-Institut (RKI) about an increase of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serotype Oranienburg isolates received in October

Between 18 October and the end of 2001, 16 cases of Salmonella Oranienburg were reported in Denmark. One patient probably acquired the infection in Africa; the remaining 15 had not been travelling before onset of disease. The patients were mostly elderly; several of them had a serious underlying illness. In contrast, only two cases had been reported in 2001 before 18 October.

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serotype Oranienburg (antigenic formula 6,7:m,t:-) is a comparatively uncommon serotype; data in the Enter-net salmonella database show that in 2000, there were 217 cases of this serotype (out of a total of 122 695 records from 19 countries) and in 1999, 253 cases (out of 135 749 records from 19 countries) reported by the national reference laboratories. Given the size of the outbreak reported from Germany (1), the nature of the infection vehicle, and the likelihood that contaminated chocolate had been exported, an urgent enquiry was sent to all Enter-net participants on 10 December to ascertain whether any associated cases had occurred

The Department of Epidemiology at Smittskyddsinstitutet (SMI, the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control) is currently analysing the preliminary surveillance figures for all notifiable diseases for 2001.

On 5 December 2001 Eurosurveillance Weekly reported on the second meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Outbreak and Response Network (GOARN), which was held on 29-30 November in Geneva (1). A review in the Lancet Infectious Diseases provides extensive background reading to this WHO venture, which was inaugurated in April 2000 by WHO’s Department of Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response (CSR, http://www.who.int/emc/pdfs/csr%20strategyE.pdf) to respond to the resurgence of the microbial threat

The Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, has published the first ever national strategy for combating infectious disease, as reported in last week’s Communicable Disease Report (1). Getting ahead of the curve – a strategy for combating infectious disease <www.doh.gov.uk/cmo/idstrategy/index.htm> outlines a strategy that is radical in including infection control in the wider remit of health protection