Zoonotic diseases in South American camelids in England and Wales

The number of South American camelids (SACs) in England and Wales is increasing and with this comes a risk of new and emerging infections. Although classified as livestock, these animals are also treated as pets and may be in regular contact with humans. This paper reviews zoonotic diseases that have been identified in SACs in England and Wales, and which pose a potential risk to human health. We also highlight the importance of surveillance continuing to capture information on infections in SACs for the protection of both public and animal health

The relationship between meteorological variables and sporadic cases of Legionnaires' disease in residents of England and Wales.

We studied the timing of occurrence of 1676 sporadic, community-acquired cases of Legionnaires' disease in England and Wales between 1993 and 2008, in relation to temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, windspeed and ultraviolet light using a fixed-stratum case-crossover approach. The analysis was conducted using conditional logistic regression, with consideration of appropriate lag periods. There was evidence of an association between the risk of Legionnaires' disease and temperature with an apparently long time lag of 1-9 weeks [odds of disease at 95th vs. 75th centiles: 3·91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2·06-7·40], and with rainfall at short time lags (of 2-10 days) (odds of disease at 75th vs. 50th centiles: 1·78, 95% CI 1·50-2·13). There was some evidence that the risk of disease in relation to high temperatures was greater at high relative humidities. A higher risk of Legionnaires' disease may be indicated by preceding periods of warmer wetter weather

The Epidemiology of Q Fever in England and Wales 2000–2015

Between 2000 and 2015, 904 cases of acute Q fever were reported in England and Wales. The case dataset had a male to female ratio of 2.5:1, and a median age of 45 years. Two outbreaks were recognised during this time period, and the incidence of sporadic cases was highest across the southwest of England, and Wales. There are limitations in the surveillance system for Q fever, including possible geographical differences in reporting and limited epidemiological data collection. The surveillance system needs to be strengthened in order to improve the quality and completeness of the epidemiological dataset. The authors conclude with recommendations on how to achieve this

Epidemiology of Toxocariasis in England and Wales.

Toxocara infection occurs through ingestion of parasite eggs excreted by dogs and cats, and can cause severe morbidity. The burden of disease in England and Wales is not well described, and the impact of public health campaigns conducted in the mid-1990s is uncertain. This paper uses data from two extensive databases to explore the trends in this disease in England and Wales from the 1970s to 2009

Healthy Animals, Healthy People: Zoonosis Risk from Animal Contact in Pet Shops, a Systematic Review of the Literature

<div><p>Background</p><p>Around 67 million pets are owned by households in the United Kingdom, and an increasing number of these are exotic animals. Approximately a third of pets are purchased through retail outlets or direct from breeders. A wide range of infections can be associated with companion animals.</p><p>Objectives</p><p>This study uses a systematic literature review to describe the transmission of zoonotic disease in humans associated with a pet shop or other location selling pets (incidents of rabies tracebacks and zoonoses from pet food were excluded).</p><p>Data sources</p><p>PubMed and EMBASE.</p><p>Results</p><p>Fifty seven separate case reports or incidents were described in the 82 papers that were identified by the systematic review. Summary information on each incident is included in this manuscript. The infections include bacterial, viral and fungal diseases and range in severity from mild to life threatening. Infections associated with birds and rodents were the most commonly reported. Over half of the reports describe incidents in the Americas, and three of these were outbreaks involving more than 50 cases. Many of the incidents identified relate to infections in pet shop employees.</p><p>Limitations</p><p>This review may have been subject to publication bias, where unusual and unexpected zoonotic infections may be over-represented in peer-reviewed publications. It was also restricted to English-language articles so that pathogens that are more common in non-Western countries, or in more exotic animals not common in Europe and the Americas, may have been under-represented.</p><p>Conclusions/implications</p><p>A wide spectrum of zoonotic infections are acquired from pet shops. Salmonellosis and psittacosis were the most commonly documented diseases, however more unusual infections such as tularemia also appeared in the review. Given their potential to spread zoonotic infection, it is important that pet shops act to minimise the risk as far as possible.</p></div

Cases of zoonoses associated with pet shops identified by the systematic literature review.

<p>*Occ = occupational (exposure associated with case’s place of work); dom = domestic (pet owned by case or relative/friend of case), visitor = case visited place of likely exposure, outside of domestic setting).</p><p>**The original source paper for this incident (Murao T <i>et al</i> (1985) Ann Rep Fukuoka City Inst Hyg Environ, 10, 70–71) is only available in Japanese. The paper by Nagano contains sufficient information to include the incident in this review.</p