[Brucellosis with acute arthritis and positive blood culture] / Brucellose med akutt artritt og positiv blodkultur.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is transmitted from infected animals to humans mainly by unpasteurised dairy products. Typical symptoms include undulant fever and arthralgia, but the disease can affect all organ systems and cause chronic debilitating and disabling illness. The condition is likely severely underdiagnosed, especially in impoverished populations. CASE PRESENTATION: A young girl presented with a one-day history of ankle pain and low-grade fever. She was born in a refugee camp in the Middle East, but lived with a Norwegian foster family and was considered to be healthy before the symptoms emerged. Blood culture surprisingly revealed growth of Brucella melitensis. She was successfully treated with a combination of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and rifampicin. INTERPRETATION: This girl was likely infected with Brucella through ingestion of goat's milk, which she was given in the refugee camp. The disease presented with arthritis nearly two years after exposure.

Characterization of the extent of a large outbreak of Legionnaires' disease by serological assays.

BACKGROUND: In May 2005, a long-distance outbreak of Legionnaires' disease (LD) caused by Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 occurred in south-east Norway. The initial outbreak investigation without serology identified 56 laboratory-confirmed LD cases of whom 10 died. However, 116 patients with community-acquired pneumonia might belong to the outbreak based on epidemiological investigations, but acute laboratory tests other than serology were negative or not performed. To assess the true extent of the outbreak, we evaluated two serological assays in order to reclassify the 116 patients with indeterminate case status. METHODS: Two polyvalent antibody tests, a serogroup 1-6 immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and a serogroup 1-7 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used. They were evaluated with cases defined as culture- or urinary antigen positive LD patients (n=40) and non-cases defined as confirmed non-LD patients (n=39) and healthy control subjects (n=62). The 116 patients, who were negative in culture, polymerase chain reaction and/or urinary antigen tests, were analysed by the same serological assays. Antibodies to the outbreak strain were determined by immunoblotting. RESULTS: In the evaluation study, the sensitivity and specificity of a ≥4-fold IFA titre change was 38% and 100%, respectively, with corresponding values of 30% and 99% for seroconversion in ELISA. A single high positive IFA titre yielded sensitivity and specificity of 73% and 97%, respectively, with corresponding values of 68% and 96% for a single high immunoglobulin (Ig) G and/or IgM in ELISA. Based on this evaluation, the following serological testing identified 47 more LD cases, and the outbreak thus comprised 103 cases with a case fatality rate of 10%. About the same proportion (70%) of the urinary antigen positive and negative LD cases had antibodies to the serogroup-specific lipopolysaccharide of the outbreak strain. In addition to the 103 LD cases, Legionella infection could not be verified or excluded in 32 patients based on epidemiology and/or lack of microbiological sampling. CONCLUSIONS: The acute-phase tests (culture, polymerase chain reaction, and urinary antigen) identified less than 55% of the 103 patients in this outbreak. Serological testing thus remains an important supplement for diagnosis of LD and for determination of outbreak cases.

Detection of specific IgG antibodies in blood donors and tick-borne encephalitis virus in ticks within a non-endemic area in southeast Norway.

BACKGROUND: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an emerging tick-borne disease in Europe. In Norway, the first TBE case occurred in 1997, and since then 1-14 cases have been detected annually along the southern coast. No TBE cases have yet been notified from the eastern coastal area. This study was conducted to assess the need for diagnostic tests and vaccine recommendation for this part of Norway. METHODS: Four hundred and sixty-one blood donors living in the county of Østfold were enrolled. After informed consent was obtained, the participants submitted a blood sample and filled out a questionnaire regarding tick bites, outdoor activities, and Flavivirus vaccines and diseases. Ixodes ricinus ticks were collected from the immediate vicinity and were examined in pools of 10 for TBE virus. RESULTS: Eight human samples were TBE virus IgG-positive by ELISA and 5 of these samples were confirmed positive by neutralization test. Excluding the 2 samples from participants who had reported previous TBE vaccination, this shows a seroprevalence among blood donors of 0.65%. The existence of TBEV in the region was verified in nymphs of Ixodes ricinus by a prevalence of 0.14%. CONCLUSIONS: The seroprevalence of TBE virus IgG and the TBE virus detected in ticks, indicate that TBE cases could occasionally occur in the area. The results should be made available to health care personnel to raise awareness for preventative measures.

An outbreak of legionnaires disease caused by long-distance spread from an industrial air scrubber in Sarpsborg, Norway.

BACKGROUND: On 21 May 2005, the Norwegian health authorities were alerted by officials from a local hospital that several recent patients had received the diagnosis of legionnaires disease; all patients resided in 2 neighboring municipalities. We investigated the outbreak to identify the source and to implement control measures. METHODS: We interviewed all surviving case patients and investigated and harvested samples from 23 businesses with cooling towers and other potential infection sources. The locations of the businesses and the patients' residences and movements were mapped. We calculated attack rates and risk ratios among people living within various radii of each potential source. Isolates of Legionella pneumophila were compared using molecular methods. RESULTS: Among 56 case patients, 10 died. The case patients became ill 12-25 May, resided up to 20 km apart, and had not visited places in common. Those living up to 1 km from a particular air scrubber had the highest risk ratio, and only for this source did the risk ratio decrease as the radius widened. Genetically identical L. pneumophila serogroup 1 isolates were recovered from patients and the air scrubber. The air scrubber is an industrial pollution-control device that cleans air for dust particles by spraying with water. The circulating water had a high organic content, pH of 8-9, and temperature of 40 degrees C. The air was expelled at 20 m/s and contained a high amount of aerosolized water. CONCLUSIONS: The high velocity, large drift, and high humidity in the air scrubber may have contributed to the wide spread of Legionella species, probably for >10 km. The risk of Legionella spread from air scrubbers should be assessed.

Aetiology and risk factors of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized patients in Norway.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: In Norway, data on the aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in hospitalized patients are limited. The aims of this study were to investigate the bacterial aetiology of CAP in hospitalized patients in Norway, risk factors for CAP and possible differences in risk factors between patients with Legionnaire's disease and pneumonia because of other causes. METHODS: Adult patients with radiologically confirmed CAP admitted to hospital were eligible for the study. Routine aerobic and Legionella culture of sputum, blood culture, urinary antigen test for Legionella pneumophila and Streptococcus pneumoniae, polymerase chain reaction detection of Chlamydophila pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Bordetella pertussis from throat specimens, and serology for L. pneumophila serogroup 1-6 were performed. A questionnaire, which included demographic and clinical data, risk factors and treatment, was completed. RESULTS: We included 374 patients through a 20-month study period in 2007-2008. The aetiological agent was detected in 37% of cases. S. pneumoniae (20%) was the most prevalent agent, followed by Haemophilus influenzae (6%) and Legionella spp. (6%). Eight Legionella cases were diagnosed by urinary antigen test, of which four also had positive serology. In addition, 13 Legionella cases were diagnosed by serology. The degree of comorbidity was high. An increased risk of hospital-diagnosed Legionella pneumonia was found among patients with a diagnosis of chronic congestive heart failure. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that S. pneumoniae is the most common bacterial cause of pneumonia in hospitalized patients, and the prevalence of Legionella pneumonia is probably higher in Norway than recognized previously.

Burden of Rotavirus Disease in Norway: Using National Registries for Public Health Research.

BACKGROUND: Norway introduced routine rotavirus immunization for all children born on or after September 1, 2014. We estimated the healthcare burden of all-cause gastroenteritis and rotavirus disease in children <5 years old to establish the prevaccine baseline and support the ongoing immunization program. METHODS: We examined national registry data on gastroenteritis-associated primary care consultations and hospitalizations for 2009-2013 and data on all deaths in children <5 years old reported during 2000-2013. We also established rotavirus hospital surveillance from February 2014 through January 2015. RESULTS: Before vaccine introduction, 114.5 cases per 1000 children <5 years old were treated in primary care and 11.8 children per 1000 were hospitalized with gastroenteritis annually. During hospital surveillance, rotavirus was detected in 65% (95% confidence interval: 60-70) of inpatient gastroenteritis cases. We estimated that 4.0 inpatient and 2.3 outpatient cases per 1000 children were seen in hospital with rotavirus disease annually, suggesting that 1 in 32 children was hospitalized by age 5. Additional 30.6 rotavirus cases per 1000 children consulted primary care annually or 1 in every 7 children by the age of 5 years. Rotavirus-associated mortality was estimated at 0.17 deaths per 100,000 children <5 years old, corresponding to 1 death every second year. CONCLUSIONS: Rotavirus remains the primary cause of severe gastroenteritis in children in Norway. The unique population-based registers, in combination with an established rotavirus surveillance platform, provide a well-suited setting to evaluate the impact of rotavirus vaccination.