Rabies outbreak in Greece during 2012-2014: use of Geographical Information System for analysis, risk assessment and control.

The objectives of this work were (i) geographical analysis of the 2012-2014 outbreak of rabies in Greece using GIS and (ii) comparative analysis of animal cases with data of potential human exposure to rabies together with environmental data, in order to provide information for risk assessment, effective monitoring and control. Most animal cases (40/48) involved red foxes, while domestic animals were also diagnosed with rabies. Overall, 80% of the cases were diagnosed in central northern Greece; 75% of the cases were diagnosed in low altitudes (<343·5 m), within a distance of 1 km from human settlements. Median distance from livestock farms was 201·25 m. Most people potentially exposed to rabies (889/1060) presented with dog bite injuries. Maximum entropy analysis revealed that distance from farms contributed the highest percentage in defining environmental niche profiles for rabid foxes. Oral vaccination programmes were implemented in 24 administrative units of the country during 2013 and 2014, covering a total surface area of ~60 000 km2. Rabies re-occurrence in Greece emphasizes the need for ongoing surveillance in cross-border areas and in areas with intense human activity.

Emergence of Lumpy Skin Disease in Greece, 2015.

Lumpy skin disease was first reported in the EU, Greece, in August 2015. Until the end of December 2015, six regional units have been affected in northern Greece and the island of Limnos. This article presents the epidemiological situation, the diagnosis, the control measures including emergency vaccination and the preliminary conclusions from the experience gained.

Re-emergence of animal rabies in northern Greece and subsequent human exposure, October 2012 - March 2013.

Greece has been rabies-free since 1987 with no human cases since 1970. During 2012 to 2013, rabies has re-emerged in wild and domestic animals in northern Greece. By end March 2013, rabies was diagnosed in 17 animals including 14 red foxes, two shepherd dogs and one cat; 104 subsequent human exposures required post-exposure prophylaxis according to the World Health Organization criteria. Human exposures occurred within 50 km radius of a confirmed rabies case in a wild or domestic animal, and most frequently stray dogs were involved.

The increase in thyroid cancer incidence is not only due to papillary microcarcinomas: a 40-year study in 1 778 patients.

AIM: Thyroid cancer incidence has been increased over the last decades. The aims of the present study were: (a) to identify a changing trend in thyroid cancer in Northern Greece, (b) to examine patients' and tumoral characteristics and (c) to investigate the increase of papillary microcarcinomas and that of invasive or larger cancers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 1 778 patients who were diagnosed with thyroid cancer between January 1971 and December 2010. The study period was divided into 4 decades: 1971-1980, 1981-1990, 1991-2000, 2001-2010. Patients were separated into 2 groups: in Group A we have included papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTM) and in Group B all cancers with diameter >10 mm as well as invasive cancers ≤10 mm. RESULTS: Patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer increased substantially per decade. The relative frequency of papillary thyroid cancer cases increased (from 60% up to 84.6% in the last decade) and follicular cancers decreased (from 40% down to 11.6%). During the study period, cancer size declined. Frequency of PTM (Group A) increased from 0% up to 19.3% in the last decade, but cancers of this group represent only a minority of total cancers. CONCLUSIONS: The increase of thyroid cancer in this cohort was mainly due to tumors larger than 1 cm and also to smaller in size but invasive thyroid tumors. This increase outnumbers the increase in papillary thyroid microcarcinomas.

Seroepidemiological study of Epstein-Barr virus infection in Bangladesh.

A seroepidemiological study was carried out on 502 sera to determine the prevalence of EBV infection in a group of Bangladeshi people (age range: 15 days-90 years). All sera were tested for IgG antibody to the EBV viral capsid antigen (VCA) by a commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the negative sera were checked subsequently by indirect immunofluorescence (IF) methods. The prevalence of EBV infection in the study group was 81.27%. 42.37% of infants had antibodies to EBV by the age of 1 year. A significant rise in the percentage of seropositives between 0-1- and 1-2-year-old children was demonstrated, indicating a high rate of primary infection at these ages. The prevalence of IgG antibody to VCA was 87.93% in the 2-10 years age group and was sustained at over 85% thereafter. Higher ELISA values were more common both in the 0-2- and > 25-year age groups, the latter being statistically significant (P < 0.025). Similar higher values were also observed in females as compared to males (P = 0.05). Eighteen out of 109 negative sera and two equivocal sera by ELISA were found to be positive by indirect IF, indicating a negative predictive value of 82% for ELISA. The concordance between the two methods was 97% with ELISA proving to be less sensitive than indirect IF. It is concluded that the prevalence of EBV infection in Bangladeshi population is similar to that observed in other developing countries and that ELISA can be used for seroepidemiological surveys; however, the sera negative by ELISA should be checked routinely by indirect IF.