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July 2005
Contents Plenary Meeting:
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In this issue:
Cases of salmonella reported in Palestine: 1913 samples/ 23 positive cases
Case control study in Israel: 13 cases and 13 controls were interviewed in The Salmonella Virchow Case Control study in Israel in June.
MECIDS is sponsored by Search for Common Ground and the NTI Global Health and Security Initiative:
Contact: shusseini@sfcg.org
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Search for Common Ground in the Middle East convened a meeting in Istanbul June 15-18, 2005 for the Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS) members. The goals of MECIDS are to improve the ability of nations in the Middle East to respond to disease outbreaks—whether naturally or deliberately caused—and to build confidence among them. MECIDS is composed of public health experts and Ministry of Health officials from Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. MECIDS members established a surveillance system for foodborne disease outbreaks in Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories, with an initial focus on salmonella. The principal goal of the meeting was to exchange information about developments related to infectious diseases in participating nations and to discuss and implement cross-border cooperation in responding to outbreaks.
Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance,
Istanbul, June, 2005
News:
MECIDS
Influenza Pandemic Preparedness in the Middle East
MECIDS participants—including the directors of disease control of Jordan and Israel, the director of primary health care of Palestine, and the under secretary for preventive affairs of Egypt—agreed at their June, 2005 meeting that they should address the threat of pandemic influenza. In accordance with the new International Health Regulations, they agreed that influenza, even more than foodborne diseases, does not respect national boundaries and that international planning is essential. (more)
Palestine
An outbreak of salmonella occurred in Palestine in May, 2005. The outbreak was due to infected rice and chicken that were served at a hotel during a dinner meeting. Sixty patients tested positive for salmonella. In the six months since MECIDS started, and before the outbreak at the hotel, Palestine reported 61 positive salmonella cases in the West Bank and Gaza. Twenty-two of them were serotyped.
Israel
Risk Factors for Enteric Infections Caused by Salmonella Virchow among Young Children in Israel: A Matched Case Control Study
Israel started collecting data for a case-control study on risk factors for Salmonella Virchow in April, 2005. Since then, 26 subjects (patients), including cases and controls, have already been recruited and their mothers interviewed. A second project which will start in the next couple of months will include physicians' surveys which aim to obtain and elaborate information on the current practices of physicians in the region related to the laboratory investigation of foodborne diseases. In order to achieve the desired number of subjects, the researchers are planning to mail 600 questionnaires to pediatricians (assuming about a 50 percent response rate).
Links to useful information:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5417a3.htm (Resistant Salmonella Typhimurium)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no07/04-1022.htm (Salmonella Agona Outbreak)
http://www.who.int/salmsurv/en/ (World Health Organization, Salmonella/Surveillance)
http://www.risci.org (Influenza preparedness site)
We have updated MECIDS website, please visit www.mecids.net .
-For MECIDS members, new salmonella data forms are posted on the site-
“Diseases do not know borders; working together for a better and healthier future”