Eur J Epidemiol

Crohns disease in Slovakia: prevalence, socioeconomic and psychological analysis.

Year 1998
Prikazka M. Letkovicova M. Matejickova V.
Research Institute of Nutrition Bratislava, Slovakia.
The need for a basic epidemiological study, according to international standards, of the prevalence of IBD in Slovakia was increased by the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. This paper presents the results of CD prevalence to 30 April 1994 in Slovakia. To evaluate the statistical data of the prevalence of the disease according to age, sex, regions and districts, the authors employed the multi-dimensional Kruskal-Wallis test and cluster analysis and determined that the prevalence of CD in Slovakia is 6.75/100.000 inhabitants. The distribution differences indicate the need for further investigations of environmental differences. The socio-economic and psychological evaluation of the patients examined revealed some interesting associations. The psychological reaction to the disease is neurotic and depressive and a higher occurrence of affective symptomatology was observed in patients with permanent partnership and with children. On the other hand, the educational level and knowledge concerning the disease on the part of the patient had a positive influence on the reaction to the disease.

Prevalence of intestinal parasitosis within three population groups in La Plata, Argentina.

Year 1998
Gamboa MI. Basualdo JA. Kozubsky L. Costas E. Cueto Rua E. Lahitte HB.
Catedra de Microbiologia y Parasitologia, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina.
The prevalence of intestinal parasites was studied as a function of socioeconomic conditions within La Plata, Argentina. Age, sex, and environmental factors were considered. Thus, from each of three areas within the city - the first a 'marginal' zone, the second a lower-income suburb, the third a middle-income urban district - 100,101, and 91 children up to 14 years old, respectively, were examined for intestinal parasites. Giardia lamblia was the most frequent species found. The respective prevalences of intestinal parasites overall (73, 54.4, and 35.1%), of polyparasitism (61.6, 27.2, and 12.5%), and of helminthic infection (32, 10.9, and 0.0%) were the highest within the population group having significantly inferior sanitary and environmental conditions. A positive statistical association between the prevalence of intestinal parasitosis and age was observed in all three of the neighborhoods. We also noted a correspondence between the frequency of such infections and school attendance in the two suburban districts. Management practices in accordance with the specific characteristics of an urban environmental and sociocultural ecosystem are thus important for the control of intestinal-parasite infection within municipal populations.

Familial pattern of infection with hepatitis B virus among immigrating Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

Year 1998
Bisharat N. Elias M. Raz R. Flatau E.
Infectious Disease Unit, Central Emek Hospital, Afula, Israel.
Seventy-eight families (506 members) of recently immigrating Ethiopian Jews to Israel, were tested for the presence of HBV serological markers to evaluate the intrafamilial horizontal transmission of the virus. Eighty-four members (16.6%) were carriers and 20.2% were HBeAg positive, the overall infection rate was 67.8%. In 40 families (51.3%) at least one family member was HBsAG positive, and in 19 families (24.4%) two or more family members were HBsAg positive. Thirty-six carriers (42.8%) were children under the age of 10, by one year of age 30% have contracted the virus, and by the age of 5 and 10 years 43.5% and 57.1% have had serological markers for past HBV infection, respectively. Our data correlate with other studies regarding the importance of horizontal spread of HBV among Sub-Saharan Africans.

An outbreak of Salmonella hadar associated with food consumption at a building site canteen.

Year 1998
Faustini A. Sangalli M. Fantasia M. Manganello R. Mattaccini E. Trippanera R. Spera D. La Rosa U. Topi MT. Forastiere F. Perucci CA.
Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Authority, Rome, Italy.
A biphasic outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella hadar affected canteen employees and workers at a construction site in central Italy in September 1994. There were 448 symptomatic cases, from 61 of whom group C Salmonella was isolated. Six cases were canteen employees. Twenty-two other individuals were asymptomatic excreters. There were 10 secondary cases. Working as a food handler at the canteen constituted an increased risk of infection, independently of ingestion of the food (odds ratio: 62.1; 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.5-406.6). Having eaten at the canteen on the 19th and 20th September was identified as risk factor for subjects symptomatic within 72 hours (relative risk (RR): 17.0, 95% CI: 2.3-124.3), and cooled meat salad was identified as the vehicle of infection (RR: 36.6, 95% CI: 14.3-93.8). The use of portable toilets was another possible route of transmission of infection for all cases (RR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0-1.6). The index case was a cook who had symptoms five days before the peak of the outbreak. From 27 individuals both symptomatic and asymptomatic excreters group B, group D and not-typed Salmonellas were isolated. This study underlines the problem of improper food handling in salmonellosis outbreaks and emphasizes the role of several vehicles in the transmission of salmonellosis in a community.

Hospitalizations for infectious diseases in Jewish and Bedouin children in southern Israel.

Year 1998
Levy A. Fraser D. Vardi H. Dagan R.
Epidemiology Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Two different population groups reside in the Negev region of southern Israel and have equal, and free from financial barrier, access to tertiary care at a single regional hospital. The Jewish population has a largely urban and industrialized lifestyle, while the Moslem Bedouins are in transition from their traditional nomadic life to settlement. To examine the differences in morbidity patterns reflected in hospitalizations, the computerized hospitalization records of children

An outbreak of intrafamiliar hepatitis A associated with clam consumption: epidemic transmission to a school community.

Year 1998
Leoni E. Bevini C. Degli Esposti S. Graziano A.
Department of Medicine and Public Health, University of Bologna, Italy. lnercebo@kaiser.alma.unibo.it
An outbreak of hepatitis A is described involving thirteen cases in a town in central-northern Italy. The consumption of infected clams, caught in a polluted coastal area of the Adriatic Sea, caused hepatitis A in all five members of a family consisting of mother, father and children, two of whom attended primary school. The epidemic subsequently spread to the primary school with a secondary attack rate of 7.9%, 0 for female pupils and 18.9% for males. The epidemiological and environmental investigations showed that the critical exposure took place in the boys' toilet in the primary school (OR: 32.79, 95% CI: 6.83-157.45). To prevent the spreading of contagion, extra disinfection was carried out in the whole school and health education campaigns were mounted. The good basic hygienic conditions of the homes, together with the cooperation of school staff in surveillance and providing information, allowed the epidemic to be controlled.

Genetic typing of human and food isolates of Listeria monocytogenes from episodes of listeriosis.

Year 1998
Franciosa G. Pourshaban M. Gianfranceschi M. Aureli P.
Laboratorio Alimenti, Reparto Microbiologia degli Alimenti, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy.
Ten clinical and food Listeria monocytogenes strains isolated during the epidemiological investigations of episodes of listeriosis (one outbreak and two sporadic cases) that occurred in northern Italy during 1993-1995 have been examined by DNA macrorestriction pattern analysis obtained by PFGE and RAPD typing, in order to confirm the food vehicle of infections. The same DNA profiles within the isolates from the three episodes were obtained by both techniques. The Apal and Smal PFGE profiles and RAPD patterns with primer OPM-01 confirmed the close relationship between strains from two distinct episodes. However, RAPD analysis with primer UBC-127 distinguished between these L. monocytogenes isolates.