Eurosurveillance
-
Since October 2013, French Polynesia has experienced the largest documented outbreak of Zika virus (ZIKAV) infection. To prevent transmission of ZIKAV by blood transfusion, specific nucleic acid testing of blood donors was implemented. From November 2013 to February 2014: 42 (3%) of 1,505 blood donors, although asymptomatic at the time of blood donation, were found positive for ZIKAV by PCR. Our results serve to alert blood safety authorities about the risk of post-transfusion Zika fever.
-
On 31 May 2011, after notification of Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP)(OXA-48;CTX-M-15) in two patients, nosocomial transmission was suspected in a Dutch hospital. Hospital-wide infection control measures and an outbreak investigation were initiated. A total of 72,147 patients were categorised into groups based on risk of OXA-48 colonisation or infection, and 7,527 were screened for Enterobacteriaceae(OXA-48) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). ⋯ The last presumed outbreak-related KP(OXA-48) was detected in April 2012. Uncontrolled transmission of KP(CTX-M-15) evolved into a nosocomial outbreak of KP(OXA-48;CTX-M15) with large phenotypical heterogeneity. Although the outbreak was successfully controlled, the contribution of individual containment measures and of the hospital relocating into a new building just before outbreak notification was impossible to quantify.
-
The quick spread of an Ebola outbreak in West Africa has led a number of countries and airline companies to issue travel bans to the affected areas. Considering data up to 31 Aug 2014, we assess the impact of the resulting traffic reductions with detailed numerical simulations of the international spread of the epidemic. Traffic reductions are shown to delay by only a few weeks the risk that the outbreak extends to new countries.
-
Human enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is known to be associated with mild to severe respiratory infections. Recent reports in the United States and Canada of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children with detection of EV-D68 in respiratory samples have raised concerns about the aetiological role of this EV type in severe neurological disease. This case study is the first report of AFP following EV-D68 infection in Europe.
-
Case Reports
Zika virus infection complicated by Guillain-Barre syndrome--case report, French Polynesia, December 2013.
Zika fever, considered as an emerging disease of arboviral origin, because of its expanding geographic area, is known as a benign infection usually presenting as an influenza-like illness with cutaneous rash. So far, Zika virus infection has never led to hospitalisation. We describe the first case of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) occurring immediately after a Zika virus infection, during the current Zika and type 1 and 3 dengue fever co-epidemics in French Polynesia.