Foodborne infections and intoxications in Poland in the years 2018-2020.

AIM: The purpose of this study is to assess the epidemiological situation of foodborne infections and intoxications in Poland in the years 2018-2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The evaluation was based on the analysis of information sent to Department of Epidemiology NIPH NIH - NRI through ROE (pol. Rejestr Ognisk Epidemicznych) - an electronic system created for uploading, transfer and analysis of data acquired during the outbreak investigations. Additional sources for the analysis were NIPH NIH - NRI annual bulletins (Czarkowski MP et al. "Infectious diseases and poisonings in Poland", 2014-2020. Warsaw, NIPH NIH and GIS). RESULTS: In the years 2018-2020 a total number of 2,108 foodborne outbreaks were reported in which 52,175 persons were exposed and 17,023 got sick (in 2016 n=916, in 2019 n=918, in 2020 n=274). In 2020 over 3 fold decrease in the number of outbreaks comparing to 2019 and over 4 fold decrease in the number of cases in those outbreaks was observed. Among outbreaks which took place in 3 most frequent settings (private household, food facility and hospital) the steepest decrease was in 12th week of 2020 (ISO 2020-W12). The most frequent etiological agent of outbreaks in the years 2018-2020 was Salmonella sp. (38.3% of outbreaks in 2018, 32.7% in 2019 and 47.8% in 2020) and specifically serotype Enteritidis (38.3%, 27% and 39.4% accordingly). The most frequent setting of outbreaks was private household (59.7% outbreaks in 2018, 66% in 2019 and 62% in 2020), followed by hospital (17.4%, 18.3% i 19.7% accordingly). Up until 2019 an increasing trend in the number of small outbreaks (up to 4 cases) caused by Salmonella sp. was observed (in 2018 - 605 and in 2019 - 612 were reported). CONCLUSIONS: Decrease in the number of outbreaks in selected settings from 12th ISO week of 2020 might have been due to introduction of restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic and enhancement of personal hygiene practices. An increase in identified and registered small outbreaks caused by Salmonella sp. comparing to the median of the number of those outbreaks from 2014-2016 could partly be a result of routine surveillance enhancement after introducing System for Registry of Epidemiological Interviews (pol. SRWE).

Hepatitis of unknown aetiology in children - epidemiological overview of cases reported in Europe, 1 January to 16 June 2022.

Following the report of an excess in paediatric cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology by the United Kingdom (UK) on 5 April 2022, 427 cases were reported from 20 countries in the World Health Organization European Region to the European Surveillance System TESSy from 1 January 2022 to 16 June 2022. Here, we analysed demographic, epidemiological, clinical and microbiological data available in TESSy. Of the reported cases, 77.3% were 5 years or younger and 53.5% had a positive test for adenovirus, 10.4% had a positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 and 10.3% were coinfected with both pathogens. Cases with adenovirus infections were significantly more likely to be admitted to intensive care or high-dependency units (OR = 2.11; 95% CI: 1.18-3.74) and transplanted (OR = 3.36; 95% CI: 1.19-9.55) than cases with a negative test result for adenovirus, but this was no longer observed when looking at this association separately between the UK and other countries. Aetiological studies are needed to ascertain if adenovirus plays a role in this possible emergence of hepatitis cases in children and, if confirmed, the mechanisms that could be involved.