Weekly releases (1997–2007) - Volume 6, Issue 14, 04 April 2002

According to the results of a national sentinel surveillance system (Sorveglianza Pediatri Sentinella, SPES), the monthly incidence of measles in Italy in 2000 and 2001 did not exceed 15/100 000 and 5/100 000, respectively. However, in the first two months of 2002 the incidence increased to 21/100 000 in February. Most of the cases were from the regions of Lazio and Campania, and most were in children aged 5-9 years. In Campania, in southern Italy, the monthly incidence in February was 123/100 000.

The Department of Health in England has issued the latest figures on known cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United Kingdom (UK), including cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the form of the disease thought to be linked to bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

After an epidemic of disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W135 in travellers returning from the haj pilgrimage to Mecca in 2000, enhanced surveillance for W135: 2a: P1.2, 5 infection or compatible strains was set up among several European countries (1, and references therein).

An international conference on emerging infectious diseases was held in Atlanta, United States (US) between 24 and 27 March (1). The main themes of the conference were preparedness for bioterrorism, foodborne disease, vectorborne disease and zoonoses, and antimicrobial resistance.

Triple antiretroviral therapy is the treatment of choice in patients at any stage of HIV infection who have not previously received antiretroviral treatment, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence for increasing numbers of drugs in antiretroviral combination therapy published in the BMJ this week (1).