The annual surveillance reports for laboratory confirmed cases of Salmonella and Campylobacter in Scotland in 2019 are now available on the Health Protection Scotland (HPS) website. 

• Annual summary of Campylobacter in Scotland, 2019 - 5,975 laboratory reports of Campylobacter were received in Scotland in 2019, a decrease from 6,096 reports in 2018. 
• Annual summary of Salmonella in Scotland, 2019 - 756 laboratory reports of Salmonella were received in Scotland in 2019, roughly in-line with the 751 reported in 2018.

Public Health England (PHE) have published its ‘Eye of the Needle 2020’ report, which provides an overview of reported significant occupational exposures (SOEs) to blood-borne viruses (HIV, HBV or HCV), from initiation of the surveillance programme on 1 January 1997, through to 30 June 2018.

During this period, a total of 8,765 SOEs were recorded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data for Scotland are available for the period January 2015 to December 2017, during which time 234 SOEs were reported, which compares with 1,216 SOEs from the rest of the UK over the same period. Further surveillance data for Scotland are available in the Healthcare Associated Infection Annual Report 2018.

Since implementation of the PHE surveillance system, 23 HCV seroconversions, and one HIV seroconversion have been reported, with no HBV seroconversions having been recorded. Reporting of SOEs and seroconversions to PHE is done on a non-mandatory basis, though a review of the way in which occupational health services report such incidents is underway to improve the accuracy, completeness and utility of the data. 

 Source: PHE, 3 February 2020

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reports that, since the beginning of January 2020, outbreaks of high pathogenic A(H5N8) and low pathogenic A(H5N1) avian influenza viruses have been recorded in the central-eastern region of Europe. Outbreaks in poultry holdings and wild birds have been detected in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.

Large and small poultry holdings, as well as backyard farms raising different bird species including turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese, were affected. Wild birds found positive include wild waterfowl and a hawk. Control measures according to the Council Directive 2005/94/EC have been implemented, with culling operations of the poultry at all affected premises.

The latest multi-agency situation report on avian influenza indicated only one low pathogenic avian influenza outbreak was recorded between August and November 2019, suggesting that the epidemiological situation is evolving fast and countries at risk should increase their surveillance activities.

Source: ECDC, 7 February 2020

A new risk assessment has been published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which evaluates the combined clonal and plasmid-mediated outbreak of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales in Lithuania during 2019-2020.

Between 1 February 2019 and 7 January 2020, 223 cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (KPC-CRE) were detected in Lithuania, including cases with infections, as well as carriage. This is a large increase in CRE cases in Lithuania compared with previous years.

The risk of further spread in the most-affected hospital, Hospital 1, is high, as a large number of cases were identified from multiple wards, and new cases were detected until at least 7 January 2020. This means that, while enhanced infection control measures have been implemented, the outbreak was still ongoing at the time of this assessment.

By contrast, the risk of transmission for individuals outside healthcare settings is low. There is also no evidence, so far, for cross-border transmission related to transfer of patients with CRE from the hospitals affected by the outbreak, to healthcare facilities in other countries.

Source: ECDC, 3 February 2020

On 6 February 2020, the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) published its fourth update on an on-going multi-country outbreak of Salmonella in the EU.

The outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis has been linked to eggs, and has been ongoing in the EU/EEA for several years.

From 1 February 2017 to 14 January 2020, 15 EU/EEA countries reported 656 confirmed cases and 202 probable cases. Before February 2017, 385 historical-confirmed cases and 413 historical-probable cases were identified, resulting in 18 affected countries. Due to differences in capacity for case confirmation, more countries are likely to be affected.

The outbreak peaked during the summer of 2016–2018. A notable decrease in the frequency of the cases reported to ECDC was been observed in 2019.

Epidemiological, microbiological and food tracing investigations have linked the cases before 2018 to consumption of eggs originating from hen farms of a Polish consortium. A national investigation in 2018 in the UK identified epidemiological links between some cases and consumption of table eggs or egg products, with traceability possibly pointing to the Polish consortium.

Despite the control measures implemented in 2016–2017, the farms of the Polish consortium were again found positive for outbreak strains in 2018–2019, which suggests persistent contamination. Investigations focusing on the laying hen production and feed supply chains did not reveal any significant insights on the possible origin of the contamination.

In the period 2017-2019, one of the outbreak strains was found in primary production in Germany.

The outbreak is still ongoing and it is expected that further infections will occur and that new cases will be reported in the coming months. Additional investigations are necessary to identify the source of contamination.

Source: ECDC, 6 February 2020

Scottish Water has published a 25-year strategic plan, ‘Our Future Together’, outlining how they intend to deliver Scotland’s future public water services. The strategy identifies three challenges they need to overcome in order to do this:

• the impact of climate change
• ageing assets
• reducing the emissions that contribute to the global climate crisis

A commitment has been made to increase investment in refurbishing and replacing assets and infrastructure, including the modernisation of water and waste treatment works and the underground pipeline network.

During 2020, Scottish Water will produce a ‘route map’ setting out how they plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.

Source: Scottish Water, 5 February 2020

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published a report on sustainable urban transport, assessing how green and sustainable ‘first and last mile’ transport options like bicycles, scooters or other means of short distance travel can transform mobility systems in cities. The report also assesses how innovative urban freight and inner city delivery services can make urban freight transport more sustainable.

Short start or end journeys are part of the daily commute. Bus, rail and metro services often cover the main part of trips to and from work, but people still need to first walk, drive or use another way to get to and from the nearest station or stop. Better first-mile, last-mile or only-mile journeys have the potential to bring down car use, potentially reducing traffic congestion, emissions and improving air quality.

A separate EEA briefing on the environmental and climate impacts of transport finds that emissions of greenhouse gases from transport continue to increase, as demand for mobility across Europe keeps growing.

Source: EEA, 3 February 2020