Listeriosis, caused by Listeria monocytogenes, is a significant public-health concern as a result of its clinical severity and high mortality. Large foodborne outbreaks of listeriosis have occurred during the last two decades in Europe and the United States, but to date there have been no food-mediated epidemics of the disease and very little information is available on the number of cases of listeriosis in Japan. We performed a nationwide surveillance study of listeriosis. The data were collected between 1980 and 2002, and 95 case reports were identified from 1996 to 2002. We divided 13·6 (cases per year between 1996 and 2002) by the ratio of the number of beds in hospitals that replied to the questionnaire, to that of all the hospitals in Japan and estimated that there is an average of 83 cases of listeriosis per year and an incidence of 0·65 cases per million of the population in Japan.

This study describes the dynamics and epidemiology of an outbreak of avian pox in free-living, red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) in southern Spain. Between March 2000 and January 2001, 115 free-living, red-legged partridges (70 juveniles, 45 adults) were captured and radio-tagged. This, together with the necropsy of 44 carcasses (10 juveniles, 34 adults) found in the study area, and the inspection of 108 shot birds (74 juveniles, 34 adults) after a hunting drive in October, permitted a close monitoring of the course of the disease. Forty-one per cent of radio-tagged juveniles but none of 45 radio-tagged adults showed pox-like lesions at the time of capture, recapture, or necropsy. At least 40% of the juveniles that survived into the hunting season, but only 2·9% of the adults inspected at the same time, showed lesions suggestive of infection with avian poxvirus. The survival of juveniles during the peak of the outbreak was much lower than that of the adults, but we found no significant differences between the survival probabilities of juvenile partridges with and without pox-like lesions. Nevertheless, some birds may have developed lesions after their capture. The occurrence and course of the disease in a managed area with intense predator control underlines the need for studies on the combined influence of diseases and predators on population dynamics. Also the need for early detection of diseases for the management of game species is emphasized.

Between January 1994 and October 1997, we interviewed 2576 black in-patients with newly diagnosed cancer in Johannesburg and Soweto, South Africa. Blood was tested for HIV-1 and HHV-8 antibodies and the study was restricted to 2191 HIV-1 antibody-negative patients. We examined the relationship between infection with HHV-8 and sociodemographic and behavioural factors using unconditional logistic regression models. Of the 2191 HIV-1 negative patients who did not have Kaposi's sarcoma, 854 (39·1%) were positive for antibodies against the latent nuclear antigen of HHV-8 encoded by orf73 in a immunofluorescence assay. Infection with HHV-8 was independently associated with increasing age (P trend=0·02). For females, independent risk factors also included working in a paid domestic capacity (OR 1·63, 95% CI 1·09–2·44, P=0·02), defining occupational status as economically non-active unemployed (OR 1·70, 95% CI 1·06–2·72, P=0·03), having a state pension or being on a disability grant (OR 1·49, 95% CI 1·05–2·11, P=0·02), using oral contraceptives (OR 1·43, 95% CI 1·03–1·99, P=0·03) and having a delayed age at menarche (P trend=0·04). The relationship between these variables and HHV-8 antibody status requires further, prospective study.

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of SmaI–DNA digests and serotyping was performed on 15 colonies of Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS) from each of 30 vaginal–rectal colonized women. Five distinct GBS serotypes were observed among the 30 specimens (Ia, Ib, II, III and V). In 29 of the 30 samples, the same serotype was observed among all 15 colonies; in the remaining specimen, the 15 colonies yielded two serotypes (II and V). The PFGE profiles of all colonies in 27 of the 30 subjects were indistinguishable within each subject. In the remaining women, different DNA profiles were identified among the colonies in each specimen, one of whom carried two different serotypes. Furthermore, strains of the same serotype belonging to different women were genetically heterogeneous.

We studied the isolation of Shigella spp., and their antimicrobial resistance. S. flexneri (54%) was most frequently isolated, followed by S. dysenteriae (20%), S. boydii (16%) and S. sonnei (10%). Among S. flexneri (n=122), 29 (24%) were 2a, and 23 (19%) were 2b. None of the Shigella strains were resistant to mecillinam or ciprofloxacin. Resistance to nalidixic acid was most frequent among S. dysenteriae type 1 (100%) followed by S. flexneri 2a (69%), and S. flexneri 2b (52%). Systematic monitoring is needed to identify most prevalent serotypes, and to detect changes in the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance pattern.

Vibrio cholerae is an important human pathogen and the cause of cholera. Since genetic variation and antibiotic resistance of strains have implications for effective treatment of the disease, we examined the genetic diversity and antibiotic resistance profile in 92 clinical strains (serogroup O1) and 56 environmental strains (O1 antigen, 42 strains; non-O1 antigen, 14 strains) isolated in Brazil between 1991 and 1999. Clinical and environmental O1 strains showed greater drug resistance compared to environmental non-O1 strains. Nearly all clinical O1 strains were resistant to one or more antibiotics while half of the environmental O1 and non-O1 strains were resistant to one or more antibiotics. No plasmids or class 1 integrons were detected in the strains by PCR analysis. Multilocus enzyme electrophoresis analysis (MLEE) suggests most of the O1 strains belong to a single (South American) clone that is related but different to seventh-pandemic strains isolated from other parts of the world. Our results show that there is a close genetic relationship between clinical and environmental O1 strains and that many serogroups and the environment can be a reservoir for antibiotic resistance.

Questionnaire surveys were implemented to study the incidence and physicians' knowledge of Vibrio vulnificus infections in Japan. Registered emergency physicians were selected by stratified random sampling for a questionnaire survey. A total of 235 out of 386 physicians (61%) responded to the questionnaire and 12 V. vulnificus septicaemia cases were reported from 10 respondents. The annual estimated number of V. vulnificus septicaemia was calculated as 425 (95% CI 238–752). The study also revealed that only 15·7% (95% CI 11·3–21·0) of responding physicians had a basic knowledge of V. vulnificus infection. Education for both physicians and people in the high-risk group for developing the infection (e.g. immunocompromised, chronic liver disease) will be necessary for the prevention, early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of the disease.