Enteric infections Outbreaks of suspected foodborne disease Six outbreaks of gastrointestinal disease thought to be due to consumption of contaminated food were reported in November and December 2011. These outbreaks occurred in restaurants or cafes (5) and in a private residence (1); 63 people were affected. Four outbreaks were identified through complaints to the NSWFood Authority (NSWFA) and...

Mass gatherings create environments conducive to the transmission of infectious diseases. Thousands of mass gatherings are held annually in the United States; however, information on the frequency and characteristics of respiratory disease outbreaks and on the use of nonpharmaceutical interventions at these gatherings is scarce. We administered an online assessment to the 50 state health depart...

Dear Editor-in-Chief, Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by an influenza virus (1). Symptoms can be mild to severe (2). The most common symptoms include: high fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache, coughing, sneezing, and feeling tired (1). Three of the four types of influenza viruses affect people, Type A, Type B, and Type C (3, 4). Type D ha...

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that have endangered the lives of many people with several outbreaks throughout history. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) recently caused a pandemic [1]. It began in China from December 2019, and by now it has affected 201 countries, more than 37,423,660 people worldwide, and claimed the lives of more than 1,074,817 people [2].

Enteric infections Outbreaks of foodborne disease Eight outbreaks of suspected foodborne disease were investigated in March and April 2011. These outbreaks were identified through surveillance of laboratory notifications, or complaints to the NSW Food Authority (NSWFA) or the local public health unit (PHU). In three of these outbreaks the causative organism was established: one as Salmonella en...

Noroviruses are the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States. To better guide interventions, we analyzed 2,922 foodborne disease outbreaks for which norovirus was the suspected or confirmed cause, which had been reported to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during 2001-2008. On average, 365 foodborne norovirus out...

Neisseria meningitidis, the meningococcus, is a major cause of bacterial meningitis and septicemia worldwide. Infection in most cases leads to asymptomatic carriage and only rarely to disease. Meningococcal disease often occurs in outbreaks, which are both sporadic and highly unpredictable. The occurrence of disease outbreaks in a host population in which the etiological agent is widely carried...