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Infectious Disease

Description

Monitoring of long-term infectious disease mortality trends is of great value to national public health systems both in estimation of the efficacy of preventive programs, and in development of the new strategies of preventive measures. In the developed countries, there are a number of studies with long-term time series of infectious disease mortality analysis in epidemiological and historical aspects. Our research was based on the work by Armstrong GL, Conn LA and Pinner RW, 1999. Literature review revealed that such analysis has been never carried out in Ukraine up to now.

Objective: The aim of our work is to determine the main trends and structure in infectious disease mortality in Ukraine over the last 50 years.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Arbovirus infections are causing enormous global burden, while their geographic distribution expands and affects new regions and areas. West Nile virus (WNV), one of the most important pathogens among arboviruses, was historically associated with causing mild febrile illness, however, after the outbreak occurred in the North America, which caused more severe illness, it has received wider recognition. It is believed that the disease can reemerge after a hiatus of several years, and affect new territories, which has happened in 2018 in Greece, with 31 dead among 271 infections by the end of September. In Georgia, there is a lack of clinical suspicion on WNV because of the low awareness among medical society, and the existent passive surveillance system seems to be improved.

Objective: Identify cases of West Nile Virus in Black Sea region of Georgia through active surveillance.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Although residents of LTCFs have high morbidity and mortality associated with ARIs, there is very limited information on the virology of ARI in LTCFs.[1,2] Moreover, most virological testing of LCTF residents is reactive and is triggered by a resident meeting selected surveillance criteria. We report on incidental findings from a prospective trial of introducing rapid influenza diagnostic testing (RIDT) in ten Wisconsin LTCFs over a two-year period with an approach of testing any resident with ARI.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of conducting respiratory virus surveillance for residents of long term care facilities (LTCF) using simple nasal swab specimens and to describe the virology of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in LCTFs.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Lyme disease (LD), a multisystem infection that is manifested by progressive stages (1), is emerging in central and eastern provinces of Canada due to northward expansion of the geographic range of Ixodes scapularis, the main vector in these regions (2). In 2004, approximately 40 human cases of LD were reported in Canada. In 2009, LD disease became nationally notifiable, with provincial and territorial health departments reporting clinician-diagnosed cases to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). This study summarizes seven years (2009-2015) of national surveillance data for LD in Canada.

Objective: This study aims to describe incidence over time, geographic and seasonal distribution, demographic and clinical characteristics of Lyme disease cases in Canada.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of antibodies to RVF virus (RVFV) in cattle, sheep, and goats in South Africa, near the 2010-2011 outbreak epicenter and identify factors associated with seropositivity.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of antibodies to RVFV in domestic cattle, sheep, and goats in a study area in the central interior of South Africa, and to identify factors associated with seropositivity.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are increasing nationwide and are of particular concern in Tennessee, especially among individuals of reproductive age.1,2 Maternal HCV status reported on the birth certificate reveals that the rate of HCV among women giving birth in TN increased 163% from 2009-2014.3 Further, a 2017 TN Department of Health (TDH) study found that 30% of reproductive aged women with newly reported chronic HCV in TN were determined to be pregnant. While current treatment options are not recommended for children under 12, it is critical to identify an infant’s HCV status in order for him/her to receive proper care. Given the high rates of pregnancy reported among women with newly diagnosed HCV, we sought to expand viral hepatitis surveillance efforts to quantify the extent of the burden of HCV among women giving birth in TN, utilizing surveillance data in lieu of standalone birth certificate data.

Objective: 1. To quantify the burden of perinatal hepatitis C (HCV) exposure and examine the geographic variation in Tennessee (TN). 2. Develop new surveillance strategies for retrospective tracking of perinatal HCV exposures.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common blood-borne disease in the US and the leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. Approximately 3.5 million individuals in the US were estimated to have been living with hepatitis C in 2010 and approximately half of them were unaware that they were infected. Among HCV infected individuals, those born between 1945 and 1965 (usually referred to as the baby boomer cohort) represents approximately 75% of current cases. Because of the substantial burden of disease among this age group, CDC expanded its existing hepatitis C risk-based testing recommendations to include a one-time HCV antibody test for all persons born between 1945 and 1965. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) subsequently made the same recommendation in June 2013.

Objective: Using a large nationally representative dataset, we estimated the prevalence of self-reported hepatitis C testing among individuals who were recommended to be tested (i.e., baby boomer cohort born between 1945 and 1965) by the CDC and United States Preventive Services Task Force.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Military service members and their families work and live around the world where both endemic and emerging infectious diseases are common. Timely infectious disease surveillance helps to inform medical and policy decisions which ensure mission readiness and beneficiary health. The EpiData Center (EDC) at the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center has performed public health surveillance, including routine infectious disease monitoring among service members, their families, and others eligible for military medical benefits for the Department of the Navy (DON) and Department of Defense (DOD) since 2005. The EDC stores and maintains 15 databases totaling over 20 terabytes of health and administrative data. These include administrative data from outpatient encounters and inpatient admissions, Health Level-7 (HL7) formatted ancillary services data, and medical event reports. These data provide the potential for robust surveillance methodologies to monitor diseases of interest and identify trends and outbreaks. The primary intent and design of these data sources is not for disease surveillance, but rather for administrative and billing purposes. However, due to the availability of this data, it is routinely used by academic organizations, private industry, health systems, and government organizations to conduct health surveillance and research. Ancillary services data in particular can be very powerful for near-real time infectious disease surveillance in the DOD as the aggregated data is available within 1 to 2 days after processing. The EDC has demonstrated the value of using laboratory data for surveillance through outbreak detection and longitudinal health trends for specific diseases among select populations. The fact that this data is not designed for surveillance does present several pitfalls in regards to analysis, from issues ranging from free text interpretation to changing testing practices. These pitfalls can be mitigated through standardized processes and detailed quality assurance testing. The EDC has harnessed the power of available administrative health data to improve health outcomes and influence policy among military beneficiaries.

Objective: Discuss the power of utilizing DOD clinical ancillary services data for infectious disease surveillance, the steps used to mitigate pitfalls which may occur during the surveillance process, and the potential of adapting this data for surveillance of emerging infectious diseases.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Neonatal tetanus (NT) though a preventable disease, remains a disturbing cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality particularly in low income countries where maternal and child care are substandard and antitetanus immunization coverage is still poor. The disease, which is mostly fatal, is particularly common in hard to reach and rural areas where deliveries take place at home or with untrained attendants without adequate sterile procedures and in unclean environment. Since eliminating NT became a global target, significant reductions in NT deaths have been reported. The most recent estimates by WHO (2015) put death of newborns due to NT at 34,019, a 96% reduction from the situation in the late 1980s. All countries are committed to œelimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), i.e., a reduction of NT incidence to below one case per 1000 live births per year in every district. A strong neonatal tetanus surveillance (NTS) is however required to achieve this. As of March 2018, only 14 countries were yet to eliminate MNT and this includes Nigeria. The different types of NTS recommended are conducted to varying degrees of efficiency and effectiveness in Nigeria under the major surveillance strategy  the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR). These include routine monthly surveillance, zero reporting, active surveillance and retrospective record review. Nigeria comprises six geopolitical zones, 36 states and a Federal Capital territory (FCT), and is made up of 774 Local Government areas (LGA) (districts) an LGA being the lowest administrative level. This study was conducted in Bayelsa state one of the six states in the south zone. It is made up of eight LGAs, more than half of which are riverine and consists of many hard-to-reach communities, where formal functional health facilities are few and far between. Health workers are in short supply and funding of health care delivery is poor in the state.

Objective: To assess the performance of neonatal tetanus surveillance in Bayelsa state of Nigeria.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Routine surveillance is an important global strategy for malaria control. However, there have been few studies comparing routine indicators of burden, including test positivity rate (TPR) and test-confirmed malaria case rates (CMCR), over spatial and temporal scales.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between test positivity rate and test-confirmed malaria case rate both in time and space, to provide better understanding of the utility and representativeness of HMIS data for changing malaria burden in endemic settings.

Submitted by elamb on