Another Promed post by Steve:

The relative importance of Eastern Equine Encephalitis [EEE] in the United States has been overshadowed by the emergence of neuroinvasive West Nile fever (WNF) virus infection. The graphs referenced below illustrate the relative incidence of older forms of arboviral encephalitis: Graph of encephalitis cases in the US
and the dominance of WNF since 2003: Graph of encephalitis cases versus West Nile fever in the US.

As a result of feedback from our users, we’ve added ICD9 and ICD10 codes to Diagnosis symptoms and the Epidemiology diseases.

In the Diagnosis module, the mouse-over description for symptoms will display the code, if available. For example, to the left is the description for “Jaundice”.

The General tab of diseases in Epidemiology will display the ICD9 and ICD10 codes below the list of disease synonyms. Synonyms and codes for Babesiosis:

The codes have been integrated both into diagnosis and text search. So if you want to diagnose an infectious disease based on the ICD9 and/or ICD10 codes for symptoms, just enter them in diagnosis search and click the button.

Likewise if you’re searching for a disease based on the ICD9 or ICD10 code, enter the code in text search and click.

Another post in ProMED from Steve describing Cryptosporidiosis in Ireland with a graph comparing rates in neighboring regions:

Background data:
Rates of Cryptosporiosis in Ireland and adjacent countries have been similar since the 1980’s.

Cryptosporidiosis became a notifiable disease in Ireland in January 2004, with 61 percent of cases having been reported during April to June [?2004]. A total of 5 outbreaks (25 outbreak cases) was reported in 2004. A total of 6 outbreaks (49 outbreak cases) was reported in 2005.

Prevalence surveys:
4 percent of gastroenteritis among children.
4 percent of diarrhea requiring hospitalization among Dublin Children 1987.
149 cases were reported among children below age 2 years in 2002; 106 in 2003.
64 patients were hospitalized for cryptosporidiosis in 1999; 57 in 2000; 65 in
2001; 53 in 2002. 70 cases (18 per 100 000) were reported by the South-Eastern Health Board in 2001. 66 cases (19 per 100 000) were reported by the Western Health Board in 2001.

Infected local shellfish species:
_Mytilus edulis_ (Common mussel) in the Sligo Area
_Dreissena polymorpha_ (Zebra mussel) in the Shannon River drainage area.

Notable outbreaks:
2002 - Outbreaks (3 outbreaks, 65 cases) were reported, including a water-borne outbreak more than 32 cases) in the Midland region.
2005 - An outbreak (31 cases) in the western region was associated with contaminated water.
2007 - An outbreak (125 cases) was reported in Galway.

Northern Ireland:
Notable outbreaks:
2000 - An outbreak (121 confirmed cases) was reported - with most cases in the County Antrim and County Down towns of Lisburn and Bangor.
2001 - An outbreak (230 confirmed cases) was reported in Belfast - source unknown.
2001 - An outbreak (57 cases) was reported in Ulster - source unknown.
2001 - An outbreak (110 cases) was reported in Eastern Health Board - ascribed to contamination of water from the Dunmore treatment facility.
2003 - An outbreak (391 cases) was reported among British tourists at a hotel in Majorca - 179 from England and Wales, 170 from Scotland and 42 from Northern Ireland.
2004 - An outbreak (14 cases) was reported in the Midland Health Board - ascribed to a contaminated water supply.

One more feature enabled by the microbiology module makeover is support for text search. Search results for organisms will show up in regular text search. Now you can search for all GIDEON main keywords from the text search box, unifying all the information.
We have some more work: index all the text and images and maximize the value of search in GIDEON.

Regarding the recent outbreak in Apulia, gradual decreases in measles rates may reflect the fact that vaccine coverage for Italy has exceded 80% only since 2002. Click on graph:
Outbreaks of measles in Italy:
1996 to 1997 - An outbreak (1,642 cases seen at one hospital) was reported in Palermo.
2002 - An outbreak (24,000 clinical cases; 368 hospitalized; 13 encephalitis; 3 fatal) was reported in Campania. The rate among children below age 15 years was 3,750 per 100,000.
2003 - An outbreak (1,217 cases) was reported in Calabria and Puglia.
2003 - An outbreak (26 cases) was reported in South Tyrol.
2006 - An outbreak (40 cases) was reported in Grosseto.
2006 - Outbreaks (187 cases in 3 outbreaks) were reported in the Roma / Sinti populations of South Tyrol (17 cases), Sardinia (9 cases) and Lazio (161 cases).