A recent outbreak of suspected salmonellosis among British travelers at a hotel in Italy highlights the risk for such infections among tourists, expatriates and similar groups in transit through foreign countries. The following chronology of similar episodes is abstracted from GIDEON:

1976 – An outbreak (550 cases) of Salmonella typhimurium infection affecting 4 international air flights (Las Palmas-Helsinki, Las Palmas-Honover) was caused by contaminated mayonnaise prepared in Spain.
1985 – An outbreak (168 cases) of Salmonella minnesota infection was reported at a Filipino workers’ camp in Saudi Arabia. (more…)

Rickettsial spotted fever was first reported in Brazil in 1920.

The disease is known locally as ‘Brazilian spotted fever’ and ‘Febre maculosa brasileira’

Cases are reported in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Goias, Rio Grande do Sul and Espirito Santo.

Seroprevalence surveys:
10.6% of healthy students and 4.11% of dogs in the endemic areas of Minas Gerais (1998)
77.3% of horses and 31.3% of dogs in Pedreira Municipality, Sao Paulo State (2001)
1.6% of healthy persons in Minas Gerais (2005 publication)
(more…)

LOS ANGELES, CA–(June 12, 2008) – More than one million cases of foodborne salmonella are reported each year, accounting for 9.7 percent of all foodborne illnesses and 30.6 percent of all food-related deaths, according to GIDEON Online, an online database of infectious disease information for medical professionals.

Specifically, foodborne salmonella resulted in 15,600 hospitalizations and 550 deaths, over the last year.

For more information on salmonella, Dr. Stephen Berger, MD, infectious disease expert, is available for interviews. Dr. Berger, cofounder and Medical Advisor for GIDEON, has published more than 180 articles and books, including “Introduction to Infectious Diseases” and “The Healthy Tourist.” He is currently affiliated with the Tel Aviv Medical Center as Director of both Geographic Medicine and of Clinical Microbiology.

For more media information, contact:
Lisa Hendrickson
LCH Communications
516-643-1642
lisa@lchcommunications.com

The following background information on Trypanosomiasis in Angola is abstracted from GIDEON:

Trypanosomiasis was first identified in Angola in 1871, in the Quixama region (Kwanza River area, south of Luanda).

A resurgence of disease rates during the 1980’s does not represent a general phenomenon for Africa, and appears to be related to civil unrest in the country. See graph

Trypanosomiasis is endemic to 7 of the country’s 18 provinces.
- Risk areas include the northern provinces of Bengo, Kwanza north and Kwanza south, Luanda, Malange, Uige, and Zaire.
- Widespread disease in the southern provinces of Kunene, Huambo, Namibe, and Huila was first reported in 2003.
- 2.5 to 4 million persons are considered at risk in 6,000 villages north of the Kuanza River.

Trypanosoma brucei gambiense predominates (mostly in the northwestern region – Zaire, Uige, Luanda and Cuenza Norte).
- Sporadic disease due to Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense is also reported.

Tsetse flies are present in 14 of Angola’s 18 provinces.
- The local vectors are Glossina palpalis (found in Zaire, Bengo, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul and Cuando Cubango), G. fuscipes ssp. quanzensis and martinii (found in Uige, Malanje, Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul), and G. morsitans (found in Malanje, Kwanza Sul, Bia, Moxico and Cuando Cubango).

Quoted in ProMED