General outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease in England and Wales: 1995 and 1996.
One thousand nine hundred and nineteen general outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease in England and Wales were reported to the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC) between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 1996, compared with 1073 in the previous two years. A minimum data set was received for 1568 (82%) of the 1919 outbreaks. Over 40,000 people were affected and about 2% of those who were ill were admitted to hospital. Seventy-one deaths were reported. The duration of outbreaks varied between less than one day and 202 days (median six days) according to the pathogen. Small round structured virus (SRSV) (43%) and salmonellas (15%) were the most commonly reported pathogens. In almost a quarter of the outbreaks (24%) the aetiology was unknown. Over half the outbreaks (64%) were reported to be transmitted from person to person, most of which were due to SRSV and occurred in residential homes and hospitals. Twenty-two per cent of outbreaks were described as mainly foodborne, 51% of which were due to salmonellas. The number of outbreaks reported in each region ranged from 52 in Wales to 512 in Northern and Yorkshire.
Evans
H S
HS
PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London. hevans@phls.co.uk
Madden
P
P
Douglas
C
C
Adak
G K
GK
O'Brien
S J
SJ
Djuretic
T
T
Wall
P G
PG
Stanwell-Smith
R
R
D017250:Caliciviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005517:Foodborne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D009663:Norwalk virus; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology