A large multi-pathogen gastroenteritis outbreak caused by drinking contaminated water from antique neighbourhood fountains, Erzurum city, Turkey, December 2012.

We investigated a gastroenteritis outbreak in Erzurum city, Turkey in December 2012 to identify its cause and mode of transmission. We defined a probable case as onset of diarrhoea (⩾3 episodes/day) or vomiting, plus fever or nausea or abdominal pain during 19-27 December, 2012 in an Erzurum city resident. In a case-control study we compared exposures of 95 randomly selected probable cases and 95 neighbourhood-matched controls. We conducted bacterial culture and real-time multiplex PCR for identification of pathogens. During the week before illness onset, 72% of cases and 15% of controls only drank water from antique neighbourhood fountains; conversely, 16% of cases and 65% of controls only drank bottled or tap water (adjusted odds ratio 20, 95% confidence interval 4·6-84, after controlling for age and sex using conditional logistic regression). Of eight stool specimens collected, two were positive for Shigella sonnei, one for astrovirus, one for astrovirus and norovirus, and one for astrovirus and rotavirus. Water samples from the fountains had elevated total coliform (38-300/100 ml) and Escherichia coli (22-198/100 ml) counts. In conclusion, drinking contaminated fountain water caused this multi-pathogen outbreak. Residents should stop drinking water from these fountains, and clean water from the water treatment plant should be connected to the fountains.

First Report of Swiss Needle Cast Caused by Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii on Douglas-Fir in Turkey.

Two 15-year-old Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) test plantations at Artvin, in the eastern Black Sea Coast Region of Turkey, were inspected in July 2003. Trees in both plantations had yellow-to-brown foliage, and most trees retained only the current year's needles, resulting in sparse tree crowns. Numerous minute, black fruit bodies were present along the rows of stomata on the lower surfaces of needles from both plantations. Laboratory examination revealed that the fruiting bodies that emerged through the stomata were those of Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii [Rohde] Petrak, the causal agent of Swiss needle cast (SNC). Although low infection levels are relatively harmless, heavily infected trees lose all but the current year's foliage, with resulting average volume growth reductions of 23 to 52% (2,3). The pathogen occurs throughout the natural range of Douglas-fir in western North America, where it is native, as well as in eastern North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, where both host and fungus have been introduced (1,2). The pathway of introduction of the pathogen to Turkey is unknown. Douglas-fir is the only known host of P. gaeumannii, and the pathogen is not known to be seedborne. Where P. gaeumannii has been introduced outside of western North America, infected nursery stock has been considered the most probable source (1). However, the affected Artvin plantations were established with seedlings produced in Turkey by using seed obtained from various sources. Earlier Douglas-fir plantations in Turkey date from 1953 and were established by using seed originating from France. The possibility that the pathogen could have arrived with untracked Douglas-fir seedlings from outside Turkey imported by arboreta or private nurseries cannot be excluded. Alternatively, scattered Douglas-fir plantations could have served as links between the Artvin infestation and known infested areas in central and eastern Europe, with spread occurring via windborne ascospores, similar to the spread of the pathogen to Denmark from the British Isles (ca. 1930) (1). Presence of severe SNC infections in Douglas-fir test sites at Artvin could hamper efforts to use this species in operational forestry in Turkey. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the occurrence of Swiss needle cast on Douglas-fir in western Asia. Voucher specimens have been deposited in the Oregon State University herbarium (OSC 106394-106403). References: (1) J. S. Boyce. Phytopathology 30:649, 1940. (2) E. M. Hansen et al. Plant Dis. 84:773, 2000. (3) D. Maguire et al. West. J. Appl. For. 17:86, 2002.