Epidemiological and genetic investigations of human-to-human transmission of zoonotic influenza viruses.

In September 2013, leptospirosis was diagnosed in two Spanish travellers returning from Thailand. The first case walked in floodwater in the Phi Phi Islands in pouring rain: 20 days later he presented with fever and acute hepatitis. The second presented with fever and renal failure 17 days after visiting the islands. These cases remind clinicians to consider leptospirosis in febrile patients with a history of contact with flood or fresh water while travelling to tropical countries. Of the over 1,400 species of infectious organisms known to be pathogenic to humans, 60% are zoonotic, i.e. transmissible from animals to humans [1]. We therefore continuously face the threat of newly emerging pathogens with a major health impact. In the last decade, viral zoonoses have resulted in numerous human cases of infection with e.g. influenza A viruses, Ebola virus, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, and Middle-East