The Middle East and Eastern Europe rabies Expert Bureau (MEEREB) third meeting: Lyon-France (7-8 April, 2015).

MEEREB is an inter-regional network of countries from North Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia that work together with the aim of improving rabies control and prevention at local, regional and global level. MEEREB members met for the third time in 2015 in France (Lyon) to review the current rabies situation within the network and to discuss the way forward the prospect of a One Health approach against rabies. Dogs were the main vector of transmission in all MEEREB countries except for Croatia and Serbia where foxes represented the primary source. The number of rabies animal cases reported in 2014 varied substantially between countries with Ukraine reporting the highest number of animal cases. Human cases still occur in North Africa and all Middle East and Eurasian countries while no cases of human rabies were reported in Croatia, Serbia and Romania, although cases of rabies were identified in both dogs and foxes in 2014. Participants concluded that MEEREB can act as a think-tank where countries can share data, information, experiences and best practices to jointly address challenges in rabies control and prevention. They called for elimination of dog-transmitted rabies through vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin stockpiles and implementation of a One Health approach to achieve rabies's eradication.

2015 European guidelines for the management of partners of persons with sexually transmitted infections.

BACKGROUND: Partner management is the process of identifying the contacts of a person infected by a sexually transmitted infection (STI) and referral to a health care provider for appropriate management. It represents a public health activity. METHODS: This guideline is produced by the IUSTI European Guideline Editorial Board and EDF Guideline Committee. RESULTS: It provides recommendations concerning the infections that require partner management, the lookback periods for this STI and the main steps to follow for partner management (offering support to patients, notifying partners, identification of contacts). Partner management is voluntary and needs to be performed with respect to human rights, social, cultural and religious behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: In European countries, there are different approaches to the partner management; some common type of actions can enhance the fight against STI.

The clinical and epidemiological evolution of varicella in Romania during 2004 and 2013.

INTRODUCTION: Varicella, a vaccine preventable disease (VPD) is one of the most common communicable diseases in Romania. The objectives of our study were to describe the epidemiological evolution of varicella in Romania between 2004 and 2013 and the clinical characteristics of the cases admitted to NIID between 2011 and 2013. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An epidemiological retrospective study was conducted by using the information reported quarterly by general practitioners and hospitals at the national level. There is no system for the surveillance of severe cases in Romania, so, to describe the clinical characteristics of varicella cases, a second retrospective study was developed, in which the patients hospitalized in the NIID, within the period 2011-2013, were included. Questionnaires were completed by using data from the clinical observation forms. Collected information included demographic, clinical and laboratory data, complications, date of onset and admission, length of stay, admission and discharge diagnosis. Data were processed and analyzed by using Microsoft Excel program. RESULTS: A total of 504,844 cases were reported of at the national level between 2004 and 2013, with a mean incidence of 238.2/ 100,000 inhabitants. The most affected age group was 5-9 years old (incidence 1362.7/ 100,000 inhabitants). The study conducted in NIID, registered 353 patients hospitalized with varicella between 2011 and 2013. Most of the hospitalized cases (88.8%) were under 10 years old and many (72.6 %) attended a community. The majority of cases had rash (98.6%) and fever (79.9%). The main complications were pneumonia (46.2%), bacterial infection (16.1%) and encephalitis (2.5%). DISCUSSIONS: Varicella is a very common disease in Romania, which may develop complications. A specific surveillance system should be introduced in order to provide accurate epidemiological, clinical and laboratory information to assess whether varicella is a public health problem in Romania and if the introduction of vaccination in NIP is recommended. However, given the large number of current cases in Romania, a solution may be a sentinel surveillance system type.

Spectrum of enteropathogens detected by the FilmArray GI Panel in a multicentre study of community-acquired gastroenteritis.

The European, multicentre, quarterly point-prevalence study of community-acquired diarrhoea (EUCODI) analysed stool samples received at ten participating clinical microbiology laboratories (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and the UK) in 2014. On four specified days, each local laboratory submitted samples from ≤20 consecutive patients to the Austrian Study Centre for further testing with the FilmArray GI Panel (BioFire Diagnostics, Salt Lake City, UT, USA). Of the 709 samples from as many patients received, 325 (45.8%) tested negative, 268 (37.8%) yielded only one organism, and 116 (16.4%) yielded multiple organisms. Positivity rates ranged from 41% (30 of 73 samples) in France to 74% (59 of 80 samples) in Romania. With the exception of Entamoeba histolytica and Vibrio cholerae, all of the 22 targeted pathogens were detected at least once. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, Campylobacter species, toxigenic Clostridium difficile, enteroaggregative E. coli, norovirus and enterotoxigenic E. coli were the six most commonly detected pathogens. When tested according to local protocols, seven of 128 positive samples (5.5%) yielded multiple organisms. Overall, the FilmArray GI Panel detected at least one organism in 54.2% (384/709) of the samples, as compared with 18.1% (128/709) when testing was performed with conventional techniques locally. This underlines the considerable potential of multiplex PCR to improve routine stool diagnostics in community-acquired diarrhoea. Classic culture methods directed at the isolation of specific pathogens are increasingly becoming second-line tools, being deployed when rapid molecular tests give positive results. This optimizes the yield from stool examinations and dramatically improves the timeliness of diagnosis.

Listeria monocytogenes - characterization of strains isolated from clinical severe cases.

Listeria monocytogenes became an increasing pathogen involved more frequently in sporadic severe illnesses and outbreaks of foodborne infections. This study investigates in vitro susceptibility of 26 strains of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from the clinical specimens collected between March 2009 and November 2013, from 24 patients hospitalized in three medical institutions in Bucharest. All isolates were tested by disk diffusion method to 15 antimicrobial agents, by using disk diffusion tests. Among the 26 clinical L. monocytogenes isolates tested, no multidrug resistant strains were detected, but 18 (72%) were found to be resistant to at least one clinically relevant antibiotic. Among them, 18 clinical isolates were resistant against ciprofloxacin also. Resistance to Ciprofloxacin was particularly noticed to the strains in Romania. Serological and molecular typing by Multiplex PCR method detected two molecular types 1/2 a, 3a and 1/2 b, 3b, as to the more frequent isolated among studied cases. These types of L. monocytogenes could be associated to the higher pathogenic activity of immunodeficient patients.

Type-specific herpes simplex virus-1 and herpes simplex virus-2 seroprevalence in Romania: comparison of prevalence and risk factors in women and men.

OBJECTIVE: To determine herpes simplex virus (HSV)-2 and HSV-1 seroprevalence in women and men in Romania. METHODS: A cross-sectional seroprevalence survey was conducted between 2004 and 2005 on a total of 1058 women and men representative of the population of Bucharest. All participants were aged 15-44 years and completed a structured questionnaire. A blood sample was collected to detect IgG anti-HSV-1 and HSV-2 serum antibodies using the HerpeSelect ELISA (Focus Diagnostics). RESULTS: A total of 761 women (median age 29 years) and 297 men (median age 29 years) were included. Overall, HSV-2 seroprevalence (15.2%) increased with age. Among women, HSV-2 seroprevalence increased from 11.0% in 15-19-year-olds to 38.3% in 40-44-year-olds. Among men, seroprevalence increased from 4.0% in 20-24-year-olds to 27.1% in 40-44-year-olds. HSV-2 seroprevalence was significantly higher among women than men (17.0% vs. 10.8%). HSV-1 seropositivity was high (87.2%) in all age groups, with no clear trend by age or by sex. In addition to older age and female sex, risk factors for HSV-2 included greater number of lifetime sexual partners, lower educational attainment, and history of genital vesicles. Lower educational level and rural residence were associated with a higher risk of HSV-1 seropositivity. CONCLUSIONS: In Romania, HSV-2 seroprevalence was higher in women than men, and was within European limits and lower than that in Africa and the USA. In contrast, HSV-1 seroprevalence was generally higher than that previously recorded in similarly aged populations in Western Europe.

Preliminary data on the involvement of B, C and D hepatitis viruses in the etiopathogenesis of chronic lymphoproliferative syndromes in Romania.

UNLABELLED: THE AIMS OF THE STUDY: Evaluation of the prevalence of HBV, HCV, HDV infection in patients with chronic lymphoproliferative diseases (CL), identification of the most involved viral genotypes, correlation between viremia dynamics and CL evolution, detection of molecular mechanisms implicated in CL pathogenesis, identification of lymphocytic receptors for viral antigens and biologic markers for early diagnosis of CL. METHODS: We present preliminary results of the first year of our research grant. This is a prospective, analytic, observational study in patients diagnosed with CL and HBV, HCV, HDV chronic infection. We included the following forms of CL: non-Hodgkin malignant lymphoma (NHL), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We used the following commercial test kits: HCV RNA Real time PCR on a COBAS TaqMan (Roche Diagnostics) analyzer with 28 to 140.000.000 UI/ml detection range for HCV viremia, HBV DNA Real time PCR on a COBAS TaqMan (Roche Diagnostics) analyzer with 6 to 110.000.000 UI/ml detection range for HBV and the Roboscreen-RoboGene AJ kit with 10-10.000.000 replica/ml detection range for HDV. RESULTS: We have included 20 patients with CL and chronic hepatitis infection so far. Median age of the patients was 61 years. The identified CL forms were: B cell NHL (15 cases), T cell NHL (1 case), CLL (3 cases), Hodgkin lymphoma (1 case), equally distributed in aggressive and indolent forms of CL. HCV infection was diagnosed in 10 patients with CL, HBV infection was found in 10 patients with CL, 3 of them having co-infection HBV + HDV. In 4 patients with HBV infection viremia was over 20.000 IU/ml and the pattern of the CL was the aggressive form of the disease. The feature of the co-infection HBV + HDV was the predominance of indolent forms of CL. Among patients with HCV infection, only 3 cases were detected with viremia over 600.000 IU/ml and CL was represented by aggressive forms of the disease. We also have immunohistochemical data available in 19 cases, which seem to confirm the role of hepatitis viruses in lymphoproliferative disease etiopathogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: We ascertained an almost equally represented prevalence of HCV and HBV infection in patients with CL. The levels of HBV, HCV and HDV viremia were low in most of the cases. The most frequent form of CL was B cell NHL. We found an equal distribution between indolent and aggressive forms of NHL associated to hepatitis virus infection.

Trends in hepatitis B incidence in Romania, 1989-2005.

In the early 1990s, Romania had a high incidence of hepatitis B, with over 30 cases per 100,000 population annually. The disease represented a serious public health problem, especially for children. As a result, public health measures were introduced during the 1990s such as the enforcement of the use of single-use needles and a routine vaccination programme for children and health workers. This paper describes the change in incidence of HBV infection in Romania from the late 1980s until 2005, and demonstrates the impact of those measures. They have lead to a dramatic decrease in hepatitis B incidence across the country: overall, the incidence has decreased from 43 per 100,000 in 1989 to 8.5 per 100,000 in 2004. The decrease has been most prominent in children under 15, dropping from 81 to 11 per 100,000 population and year during that period.

A large rubella outbreak, Romania--2003.

Romania experienced a large rubella outbreak in 2002-03, with more than 115,000 reported cases nationwide, and an incidence of 531 reported cases per 100,000 population. The incidence was highest in children of school age. The cohorts of adolescent girls vaccinated in 1998 and 2002 (when a rubella-containing vaccine was available) had significantly lower incidence rates (p<0.001) compared with those in boys in the same age groups who were not vaccinated. In 2003, of the 150 suspected congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) cases reported, seven (4.6%) were confirmed by positive rubella IgM antibodies. In the absence of available rubella containing vaccine for outbreak control, an outbreak response plan to improve the detection of cases and to limit rubella virus transmission was developed. The following activities were conducted: surveillance of pregnant women with suspected rubella or history of exposure to rubella virus was implemented, with follow up of pregnancy outcomes; surveillance for CRS was strengthened; existing infection control guidelines to prevent disease transmission within healthcare facilities were reinforced; and a communication plan was developed. In May 2004, Romania is introducing measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for routine vaccination of children aged 12 to 15 months, while continuing vaccination of girls in the 8th grade of school (13-14 years of age) with rubella-only vaccine.