Eurosurveillance - Volume 8, Issue 9, 01 September 2003

The objective of this study was to evaluate a new C. trachomatis screening method based on a home sampling strategy and using the internet as a facility for the participants to obtain their test results. A population based screening study was designed in primary care setting in Umeå, Sweden. It included all males aged 22 years (n=1074), living in Umeå, a city with 100 000 inhabitants. The participation rate was 38.5%. In the study group, 1.1% were infected with C. trachomatis. Participants obtained their results on the internet and three quarters of males infected with C. trachomatis sought medical treatment independently. The number of times the internet was visited exceeded the number of urine samples tested. The internet C. trachomatis screening strategy achieved the highest male participation rate yet published, and also reached young males outside the high risk groups.

Three available sources of information used in the surveillance of AIDS in Spanish prisons were used to carry out a capture-recapture study. Results showed the register of AIDS cases (RCS) considerably underestimates the incidence of this disease in prisons as it covers only 50% of cases. This study highlights the need to use additional sources to the RCS to evaluate the real incidence of AIDS in prisons in Spain.

During 2000, the millennium year, 26 million people visited Rome. An improved surveillance system for infectious diseases, especially for foodborne disease outbreaks (FBDO), meningitis, and legionnaires' disease was introduced in 1997. This rapid alert network links public health services with the principal sources of diagnosis and laboratory based surveillance. For travel related legionnaires' disease, international surveillance was implemented. Specific control measures for FBDOs were adopted. No increase in the overall incidence of these diseases was observed, and no atypical pathogens in FBDOs or meningitis were isolated in 2000 relating to 1998-99. Cases of legionnaires' disease and FBDOs involving foreign tourists increased (10/4 and 7/2 observed/expected respectively). Three out of six FBDOs involving pilgrims occurred in religious guesthouses. While an increase in cases of legionnaires' disease and FBDOs among foreign tourists was observed by the surveillance system, the millennium year did not influence the epidemiology of infectious diseases in the residential population of Lazio.