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.