Transmissible Briefs

In many countries, the influenza epidemic is still increasing at the moment. ECDC updated the risk assessment for seasonal influenza 2016-2017 recently, on 25 January. This podcast summarises the main message, and goes a bit deeper in the issue of vaccinating health care workers, exploring the challenges on the road to a successful flu vaccination campaign in health care settings.

This podcast is part of the Transmissible Briefs; a series of educational podcasts, summarising recent public health news.

An outbreak of C. auris infection at a 296-bed cardio-thoracic surgery centre in the UK was reported in October 2016. Over a 16-month period from April 2015 to July 2016, 50 cases of C. auris infection occurred in this centre. Twenty-two (44%) of these cases required antifungal treatment, nine (18%) of which had a bloodstream infection (candidemia).

An outbreak of C. auris bloodstream infections occurred in 2016 in the surgical intensive care unit of a hospital in Spain. After identification of the first case by sequencing in April 2016, 33 cases of C. auris bloodstream infection were detected by the end of November 2016. The screening of about 100 healthcare workers did not return any positive cultures. The implemented control measures included contact precautions, active surveillance for yeasts, decolonisation baths with chlorhexidine, preventive isolation of patients with a positive culture for yeasts, cohorting of cases with dedicated nursing staff, use of disposable chlorhexidine alcohol wipes before intravenous catheter manipulation, and cleaning of environmental surfaces three times per day with disposable chlorhexidine towels.

In Norway, one isolate of C. auris resistant to fluconazole was detected among isolates from invasive Candida infections sent routinely to the national reference laboratory for characterisation. Although this case of C. auris infection was diagnosed in Norway, the infection was probably acquired abroad as the concerned patient was

The German national reference centre for invasive fungal infections reported on its website that it detected an isolate of C. auris resistant to fluconazole isolated from a blood culture in November 2015.

These were reasons for ECDC to take a closer look at this new pathogen, Candida auris, and write a Rapid Risk Assessment.

In this podcast, we give an overview of Candida auris. In 19 minutes, we present the key public health messages, and an interview with dr Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo, mycologist from the Mycology Reference Laboratory of the Istituto de Salud Carlos IIII in Madrid, Spain.

Q fever is a disease caused by the bacteria Coxiella burnetii which is found worldwide. The bacteria naturally infects some animals, such as goats, sheep and cattle. C. burnetii bacteria are found in animal birth products (i.e. placenta, amniotic fluid), urine, feces, and milk of infected animals. People can get infected by breathing in dust that has been contaminated by infected animal feces, urine, milk, and birth products. Some infected people never get sick; however those that do, usually develop flu-like symptoms including fever, chills, fatigue, and muscle pain. Or worse…

A recent alert by ProMed on a Q-fever outbreak in South Australia was the start of this episode of Transmissible Briefs. If you want to refresh your knowledge about the disease, the pathogen, the epidemiology, reservoir and transmission routes, about the prevention & control measures, then this 35 minute podcast may be useful for you.

This first episode in a series of podcasts, looks back to the reason why the 2nd of January is linked to gardening and typhus.

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