Recent trends in human brucellosis in Israel.

BACKGROUND: The majority of human brucellosis cases in Israel are caused by the ingestion of unpasteurized dairy foods produced from unlicensed family-owned flocks whose products are sold door-to-door at low prices. Exposure to infected farm animals is another major cause of infection. OBJECTIVES: To determine, by examining recent incidence data and brucellosis control programs, whether a reduction in the incidence of human brucellosis in Israel can be sustained. METHODS: Case information is reported to the Health Ministry and national data are compiled and analyzed by the Division of Epidemiology. The current study focuses on data from 1998 through 2009 and discusses several of the major prevention and health education programs that have been implemented. RESULTS: An incidence decline of almost 70% during the period 1998-2002 was followed by a return to previously existing levels, although the incidence has remained consistently lower than in past decades. The disease is mostly limited to certain sectors of the rural Arab population. In 2009 the incidence rate per 100,000 population was 7.0 among Arabs compared with 0.2 among Jews. Between 1998 and 2009, 63% of cases were from the Beer Sheva and Acre health districts, which together comprise 15.5% of the Israeli population. Control programs--including efforts to combat brucellosis in animals and to discourage the sale of unpasteurized homemade dairy products--have met with partial success. CONCLUSIONS: Without routine vaccination of all family-owned flocks, more effective restraints on the market for unpasteurized dairy foods and improved regional cooperation, human brucellosis will continue to be a contained, but persistent, health problem in Israel due to cultural behavior, socioeconomic factors, and the regional political environment.

Evaluation of ProMED-mail as an electronic early warning system for emerging animal diseases: 1996 to 2004.

OBJECTIVE: To identify emerging animal and zoonotic diseases and associated geographic distribution, disease agents, animal hosts, and seasonality of reporting in the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED)-mail electronic early warning system. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SAMPLE POPULATION: 10,490 disease reports. PROCEDURES: Descriptive statistics were collated for all animal disease reports appearing on the ProMED-mail system from January 1, 1996, to December 31, 2004. RESULTS: Approximately 30% of reports concerned events in the United States; reports were next most common in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Russia, and China. Rabies, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and anthrax were reported consistently over the study period, whereas avian influenza, Ebola virus, and Hantavirus infection were reported frequently in approximately half of the study years. Reports concerning viral agents composed more than half of the postings. Humans affected by zoonotic disease accounted for a third of the subjects. Cattle were affected in 1,080 reports, and wildlife species were affected in 825 reports. For the 10,490 postings studied, there was a retraction rate of 0.01 and a correction rate of 0.02. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: ProMED-mail provided global coverage, but gaps in coverage for individual countries were detected. The value of a global electronic reporting system for monitoring emerging diseases over a 9-year period illustrated how new technologies can augment disease surveillance strategies. The number of animal and zoonotic diseases highlights the importance of animals in the study of emerging diseases.