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Infectious Disease

Description

Real-time emergency department (ED) data from the BioSense surveillance program for ILI visits and ILI admissions provide valuable insight into disease severity that bridges gaps in traditional influenza surveillance systems that monitor ILI in outpatient settings and laboratory-confirmed hospitalization, but do not quantify the relationship between ILI visits and hospital admissions.

Objective

The purpose of this analysis is to gain understanding of the burden of influenza in recent years through analysis of clinically rich hospital data. Patterns of visits and severity measures such as the ratio of admissions related to influenzalike illness (ILI) by age group from 2007 to 2010 are described.

Submitted by uysz on
Description

Cryptosporidiosis is a gastrointestinal illness due to a protozoan parasite that is highly contagious, and resistant to multiple disinfectants. Utah experienced a large, community-wide outbreak of cryptosporidiosis between June and December of 2007. During this time period, the Utah Department of Health received reports of 1,902 laboratory confirmed cryptosporidiosis cases across the state.2 Nearly 40% of these cases occurred in Salt Lake County (SL County), Utah. In past years, SL County averaged fewer than five cases annually; however, the incidence rate in the county for this entire outbreak was 125.9 per 100,000 person–years.

Objective

The objective of this study was to investigate if prospectively applied space-time surveillance could have detected significant, emerging clusters as cryptosporidiosis, cases were reported to the Salt Lake Valley Health Department during the 2007 outbreak.

Submitted by uysz on
Description

Epidemiological information realized by modern disease surveillance systems offers great potential for supporting clinical decision-making. Providing health practitioners with population-based, pathogen-specific information about regional communicable infectious disease epidemiology can engender enhanced knowledge about specific pathogens, which may, in turn, lead to improved clinical performance. To enhance the pathogen-specificity of Utah’s surveillance system, which includes tracking syndromes and notifiable diseases, we developed a system that tracks microbiologic testing in Utah’s largest health care delivery system.

 

Objective

The objective of this study is to describe a system 'Germ Watch' that provides information about the regional activity of common communicable infectious diseases.

Submitted by uysz on
Description

MRSA, which had been known primarily as a cause of healthcare-associated infections, increasingly has been recognized as a cause of skin infections among persons of all ages who have little or no contact with healthcare settings. Such infections are the most common cause of skin and soft-tissue infections among patients presenting to emergency departments.

 

Objective

The Nebraska Department of Heath and Human Services (NDHHS) Office of Epidemiology conducted ongoing surveillance to monitor statewide incidence of physician diagnosed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections among high school football and wrestling participants during school years 2008–09 and 2009–10.

Submitted by uysz on
Description

Little was known about the maternal and fetal/infant effects of Zika infection before the 2015 outbreak in the Americas, which made it challenging for public health practitioners and clinicians to care for pregnant women and infants exposed to Zika. In 2016, CDC implemented a rapid surveillance system, the US Zika Pregnancy and Infant Registry, to collect information about the impact of Zika infection during pregnancy and inform the CDC response and clinical guidance. In partnership with state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments, CDC disseminated information from this surveillance system, which served as the foundation for educational materials and clinical tools for healthcare providers.

Objective: To describe how Zika virus (Zika) surveillance data informs and improves testing guidance, clinical evaluation and management of pregnant women and infants with possible Zika infection

Submitted by elamb on
Description

The main reservoir of intestinal viruses in the environment is human feces and contaminated wastewater. Sewage contamination preconditions further contamination of surface water serving as a source of water supply [2,7,8]. High resistance to physical and biological exposures ensures long-term survival of the viruses in water with various type and level of contaminants, especially in sewage. Detection of enteroviruses of a specific serotype in sewage indicates a significant number of people releasing the virus with feces [1,2]. There are two peaks of enteroviruses concentration in sewage: in January-April, and in June-September [8]. Sewage testing for enteroviruses is one of effective methods for their detection and risk assessment [3]. European region, including Ukraine, is recognized as free from of wild polioviruses, and a systematic study of sewage samples is important for identifying the possibilities of their "silent" circulation [6].

Objective: The purpose of the study was to confirm the hypothesis of possible intestinal viruses circulation in wastewater in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine.

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 be living with HCV in 2010 and approximately half of them were unaware that they were currently 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 HCV risk-based testing recommendations to include a one-time HCV antibody test for all persons born between 1945-1965. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) subsequently made the same recommendation in June 2013.

Objective: Using administrative claims for privately insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees from a large, private, U.S. health plan, we estimated the prevalence of 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. This panel will discuss strengths and weaknesses for monitoring hepatitis C testing using alternative data sources including self-reported data, insurance claims data, and laboratory testing data.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

The OKC-Co Health Department deployed a phased vectorborne response plan to address multiple diseases, including Zika Virus and West Nile Virus. This plan is scalable and flexible, but must necessarily prepare for the worst case scenario. Although not currently a local threat in OKC-Co, Zika virus response planning requires early coordination between state, local and federal agencies in order to mitigate risk to the population. The backbone of the Vectorborne response planning has been proven successful through West Nile Virus response in which Oklahoma has experienced three outbreak seasons: 2003, 2007 and 2012. (OSDH) In 2015, the OKC area experienced a greater than 112% increase in the number of vectors and 18 WNV positive test pools were observed. The heightened number of vectors and positive test pools did not translate to the same escalation in human cases, which demonstrates the strength that Public Health collaboration between surrounding municipalities and community members has on reducing the potential impact of this seasonal epidemic. During the most recent 2017 mosquito season, local code enforcement, city officials and consumer protection deployed a total of 18 CDC Gravid and BG Sentinel traps. The final day of sorting took place during the last week of October, as consistent with the decrease in mosquito numbers. There were 23 trapping and testing weeks with a total of 43,079 mosquitos trapped and 33, 846 mosquitos tested. An average of 66% of all trapped mosquitos were tested each week. The Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) Infection Rate is calculated each week.

Objective: Demonstrate the impact of surveillance and media engagement on Public Health protection during a Vectorborne disease response.Identify surveillance and reporting methods for timely response to positive cases steps.Explore and apply best practices for collaboration with partners and surrounding municipalities in order to reduce disease impact

Submitted by elamb on
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