Infectious diseases in Poland in 2015

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This is the next annual analysis of the situation of infectious and parasitic diseases in Poland in 2015 within the framework of the Epidemiological Chronicle of Przegląd Epidemiologiczny - Epidemiological Review. Its purpose is to identify potential threats to the health of populations from infectious diseases occurring in Poland with reference to other parts of the globe.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This paper is an introduction to more detailed studies of the epidemiological situation of selected infectious diseases and summarizes the results of the surveillance of infectious diseases in Poland in 2015. References to epidemiological situation in other countries are limited to situations that may affect current or potential occurrence of the disease in Poland. The main source of epidemiological information for this summary is the data from the reports of the State Sanitary Inspection included in the annual bulletins “Infectious Diseases and Poisonings in Poland in 2015” and “Vaccination in Poland in 2015” (1, 2). The epidemiological situation of particular diseases is further elaborated in the Epidemiological Chronicle of the same issue of the Epidemiological Review. Data on deaths are based on the presentation of the Demographic and Labor Market Department of the Central Statistical Office on deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases registered in Poland in 2015 and earlier.

RESULTS: For a long time, the most common diseases among epidemiological surveillance it is upper respiratory tract infections classified as “influenza and suspected influenza”. In 2015, the number of cases was 3,843,438 (9 994,7 / 100,000). As to compare with the 2014’s incidence, this was an increase of 22.6%. In 2015, incidence of intestinal infections with etiology of salmonella increased by 2.8% compared to the previous year, but compared to the median of 2009-2013 was 2.5% lower. A serious epidemiological problem is a strong upward trend in nosocomial infections including infections caused by Clostridium difficile. In 2015, 8.976 (23.3 / 100,000) of these cases were reported. They caused 491 deaths. Compared to the previous year, the increase in incidence was 39.8%. Compared with the median of 2009-2013 it was an increase of 89.7%. In 2015, there was a continuation of observed for more than a dozen years the unfavorable trend of intestinal infections caused by noroviruses. There were recorded at 3,637 (9.5 / 100,000) of those infections. Among viral intestinal infections, rotavirus infections in children are a particularly important problem. In 2015, as compared with 2014, the increase of incidence in the general population was not high, only 0.5%, but to the median of 2009-2013 it was 44.4%. An important group of intestinal infections, diarrhea in children under 2 years of age, had a slight decrease (by 0.3%) in the category of bacterial infections in 2015, but increased by 26.7% in the category of bacterial poisonings and 5.9% in the category of viral infections. In 2015, there were 4956 cases of pertussis (512.9 / 100,000), which was an increase in the incidence compared with the previous year by 136.2%, and compared with the 2009-2013 median by 127.4%. After the epidemic of rubella outbreaks in 2013, in the year 2014, the incidence dropped by 84.7% and in 2015, the decrease was 65.9%. One case of congenital rubella has been reported. Most measles infections are imported infections or in contact with them in the country. In 2015 the number of cases was 48 (0.12 / 100,000). In 2015, the number of invasive diseases caused by H. influenzae was 62 (0.16 / 100,000). Compared to the previous year, this was an increase of 51.3%. The number of invasive diseases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in 2015 was 979 cases. Compared to 2014, this was an increase of 39.0%. When compared with the median of 2009-2013, increase was 128.1%. In 2015, number of reported cases of hepatitis B was 3,518 (9.1 / 100,000), which was 122.7% higher than the median of 2009-2013. Newly diagnosed C-type infections were reported to be 4,285 (11.1 / 100,000), an increase of 91.6% over the median of 2009-2013. Such a large increase in reported cases is related, inter alia to the introduction a new, more sensitive case definition in 2014. The incidence of Lyme disease has been on the rise in the last fifteen years. In 2015, 13,625 cases (35.4 / 100,000) were reported, which, with an insignificant decrease compared to 2014, gives rise to 49.1% over the median of 2009-2013. The downward trend in the incidence of tuberculosis (all forms of tuberculosis) is clearly persistent. In 2015, the incidence of this disease decreased compared to the previous year from 17.4 to 16.7 / 100,000. In 2015 were reported 1,281 cases of newly diagnosed HIV (3,33 / 100,000). It was an increase of 13.0%. The number of AIDS cases decreased by 13.5% compared to the previous year. Reported cases of malaria involve people who have been infected abroad in endemic malaria areas. In 2015 there were reported 29 such cases. None of the cases of diphtheria, chronic childhood paralysis, rabies and viral hemorrhagic fever except for dengue have been reported in 2015. There were reported 12 cases of dengue imported from endemic regions. In Poland in 2015 number of deaths from all infectious and parasitic diseases was 2,199. The share of deaths due to infectious diseases in the total number of deaths was 0.54% and mortality was 5.5 per 100,000 population. The majority of deaths were caused by tuberculosis and its consequences (25.7%) and intestinal infections caused by Clostridium difficile (23.2%).