Regarding a recent case in the Netherlands posted in ProMED, several instances of imported West Nile fever have been reported in recent years.

Published reports are summarized below. (primary references are available on request)

2001 – A patient in the Netherlands developed West Nile fever following a trip to Israel.
2002 – Cases acquired in the United States were reported in France, Denmark (2 cases), Mexico; Czech Republic
2003 – Cases acquired in the United States were reported in Germany (2 cases); Canada; the Netherlands.
2003 (publication year) – Cases acquired in Israel and Canada were reported in Denmark.
2003 – A case acquired in Canada was reported in the Netherlands.
2003 – Cases acquired in the United States were reported in France (3 cases), the Netherlands (3 cases), and Germany (2 cases).
2004 – Cases acquired in the United States were reported in Germany 36; Netherlands; and Uruguay.
2004 – 2 cases of West Nile Virus infection were confirmed in Ireland. In both instances, the patients had recently visited Portugal.
2005 – Cases acquired in the United States were reported in Japan.
2005 – An Irish traveler acquired West Nile fever in the United States.
2005 – 4 cases reported in France had been acquired in Djibouti.
2006 – A Spanish missionary acquired West Nile fever in Nicaragua.
2007 – 2 British travelers developed West Nile fever while visiting Canada.

Reference
Berger SA. West Nile fever: Global Status, 2010. GIDEON e-book series

Posted in ProMED

GIDEON what’s new summary: August 4 to August 7, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (8 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (420 updates)

GIDEON what’s new summary: July 28 to August 4, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (12 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (456 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Vaccines (2 updates)

Microbiology – Bacteria (8 updates)

Dr. Steve Berger will be presenting GIDEON this weekend at the BIT’s 1st World Congress of Virus and Infections 2010 (WCVI-2010)  in Busan, Korea.

He will be giving the keynote speech entitled “Informatics and Decision Support in Clinical Virology: A Global Web-based Program“.

Time: 14:10, August 1, 2010 (Sunday)

Place: Room No. 201, 2nd Floor, Convention Hall, BEXCO

Abstract:

A Global Web-based System for Disease Simulation and Informatics in the Field of Geographic Medicine

Stephen A. Berger, M.D.

347 generic infectious diseases are distributed haphazardly in time and space; and are challenged by 342 drugs and vaccines. Over 3,000 pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi have been described in human disease. An ongoing project for decision support and informatics will serve as a paradigm to demonstrate an approach to web-based systems for Geographic Medicine. The first module in the program generates ranked differential diagnoses based on signs, symptoms, laboratory tests, exposure history, country of acquisition and incubation period; and can be used to diagnose or simulate any infectious disease scenario. Additional capabilities include bioterrorism simulation and syndromic surveillance. The second module follows the epidemiology of individual diseases, including their global status and occurrence in each endemic country. As of 2010, this module contains 3 million words of text in 18,500 country-specific text notes; 32,095 graphs; 5,100 images (clinical, microscopic, life cycle, etc); 345 maps; 150,000 linked references; 10,200 outbreaks and 21,101 disease prevalence and serosurveys. The third module follows the pharmacology and usage of all anti-infective drugs and vaccines. The fourth module is designed to identify and characterize all species of bacteria, mycobacteria and yeasts. Application of such systems for use in diagnosis, surveillance and education will be discussed. Since all data in the program are generated at the server level from modular sources in electronic spread sheets, a subprogram has been designed to generate entire text-books (e-books) on the diseases of individual countries and diseases. At present, 411 such books (95,000 pages) have been generated – all of which will be updated yearly.

GIDEON what’s new summary: July 26 to July 28, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (4 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (376 updates)

GIDEON what’s new summary: July 23 to July 26, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (4 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (290 updates)

GIDEON what’s new summary: July 21 to July 23, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (2 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (291 updates)

On Monday, November 8th, GIDEON’s medical director, Steve Berger, MD will be on the Global Access to Infectious Disease Information panel at the American Public Health Association (APHA) meeting in Denver, Colorado. Following that he will demonstrate GIDEON at a session entitled: Web-based system for informatics and decision support in geographic medicine.

Links to more information:

• Panel information
• Demonstration session details

If you’ll be there, join the session and say hi to Steve.

GIDEON what’s new summary: July 18 to July 21, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (4 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (294 updates)

GIDEON what’s new summary: July 15 to July 18, 2010

Infectious Diseases – Outbreaks (7 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Diseases (356 updates)

Infectious Diseases – Drugs (3 updates)