Dirk Werber

..Weighting death by age permits a different view on the disease burden individual enteric pathogens cause and particularly underscores the public health importance of listeriosis prevention...

..e. they might belong to an outbreak. In this article we put forward strong reasons why a systematic nationwide molecular subtyping surveillance is needed for selected bacterial pathogens in Germany...

..As a corollary, these tools are amenable to tailor microbiological testing of suspected food. Please see related article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/10/12...

..This is, to our knowledge, the first multistate outbreak associated with a non-O157 STEC detected by laboratory-based surveillance. Molecular subtyping was pivotal, as disease occurrence was sporadic or family-related...

..Two thirds (41/61), representing 72% of food isolates, were also found in patients. Serogroups typically isolated from patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome were rarely found in food...

..Preventing household transmission of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (STEC O157) infection is important because of the ease of interpersonal transmission and the potential disease severity...

..Direct transmission through food played a lesser role in children under 3 years of age, the population at greatest risk of both acquiring STEC infection and developing hemolytic uremic syndrome...

..The objective of this study was to explore health professionals' knowledge of, and attitudes towards, identification and investigation of STI outbreaks in Wales...

..Consequently, the general preventive strategy would be jeopardised, namely to understand the (often new) mechanisms by which contamination and disease transmission occur well enough to interrupt them...

..35). These data suggest that the more frequent carriage of both virulence genes, i.e. stx2 and eae, forms the basis of why STEC O157 predominates in patients with HUS...

..A large outbreak of the hemolytic-uremic syndrome caused by Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 occurred in Germany in May 2011. The source of infection was undetermined...

..The consumption of sprouts was identified as the most likely vehicle of infection...

..Consumers should adhere strictly to brewing instructions, although in exceptional cases this precaution may not be protective, particularly when preparing tea for vulnerable age groups...

..The findings should be considered in prevention guidelines addressing vulnerable populations...

..This needs to be taken into account in risk factor studies for non-O157 STEC, ideally by reporting risks separately by serogroup...

..We present recent data on the epidemiology of reported yersiniosis in Germany...

..However, the first wave with measurable burden of disease started only in October 2009. The basic epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the pandemic were analysed in order to understand the course of the pandemic in Germany...

..In June 2009, an outbreak of pandemic A(H1N1) 2009 infection occurred at a teenager's party in Germany. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors for pandemic A(H1N1) 2009 infection...

..This report describes a large international chocolate-associated Salmonella outbreak originating from Germany...

..Irradiation of raw ingredients is not accepted by German consumers, thus strict adherence to good manufacturing practices, the use of HACCP programmes as well as on-farm programmes remain crucial to reduce Salmonella...

..Further studies are necessary to identify the pathogen's reservoir(s). Stool samples of patients with HUS should be tested with an adequate microbiological set-up to quickly identify SF EHEC O157:H-...

..Our objective was to study the causes and characteristics of community-acquired, acute gastroenteritis in adult hospitalized patients to support the clinical management of these patients...

..Therefore, it is important to establish effective multiple-barrier water-treatment systems whenever possible, but even with an established chlorinated supply, sustained vigilance is central to public health...

..Targeted control measures, particularly at primary production, are expected to lead to a sustainable reduction of the incidence of food-borne zoonoses...

..Compared with other nasopharyngeal specimen types, nasal wash was the most sensitive. These results support the notion that epidemiologic and virologic characteristics of NIV are in many aspects similar to those of seasonal influenza...