Background
Emerging infectious diseases is defined as having newly appeared in
a population or have existed but are rapidly increasing in incidence
or geographic range. Emerging infections are emerging as long as
control strategies are still not complete.
SARS-CoV-2: The problems are well known. The evolving virus has
resulted is waves of different variants and the use of vaccines,
still based on the ancestral virus from January 2020, has proved
effective in reducing severe disease and mortality. However, there
is a lack of consensus on when and how to use the 4th dose and
when second generation vaccines including for instance the
delta and omicron variant. The evolution of the virus is also not
certain. The omicron variant was not a further development of the
delta variant but was introduced from a reservoir, most probably
immunocompromised people who could not clear the virus.
Monkeypox: The emergence of monkeypox in men who has sex
with men (MSM) was a surprise and as of September 2, 2022,
in total 52,000 cases have been registered worldwide. The
monkeypox isolated in MSM have been designated “clade 3” and
it is still not clear if this clade is responsible for sexual
transmission or if the outbreak is driven by human behavior.
Vaccines against smallpox also protects against monkeypox, but
the vaccine efficacy has never been estimated against sexually
transmitted infections. Drug treatment exist, but only on an
experimental stage (tecovirimat or TPOXX).
Vaccine derived polio virus type 2, vdPV2: Vaccine derived polio
virus type 2, vdPV2, has been emerging in Africa over the past years
and has recently been found in London and New York. vdPV2 can
cause acute flaccid paralysis and show a genetic instability in the
currently used Sabin monovalent type 2 vaccine. A novel attenuated
OPV2 have been developed and have superior genetic stability
compared with the Sabin monovalent type 2.
Acute Hepatitis Cases: Between 5 April (when the outbreak was
initially detected) and 8 July 2022, 35 countries in five WHO Regions
have reported 1010 probable cases and 22 deaths.
Vector borne Infections
West Nile virus: Theres is an increase in the numbers in Italy and
Greece. The physicians in the neighboring countries should be
alarmed and informed.
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever: The number of cases increased
in Turkey during the pandemic and new cases were reported in
Spain.
Antimicrobial Resistance: Antimicrobial stewardship was neglected
during COVID-19 pandemic and therefore antimicrobial resistance
increased especially in conflict zones such as Ukraine.