scholarly journals Management of COVID-19 Outbreak in Argentina: The Beginning

Author(s):  
Nicolás Alejandro Gemelli

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to analyze the impact coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had in Argentina during its initial stage, identify the measures taken to try to mitigate its impact, and briefly compare it with the influenza A H1N1 pandemic in 2009. This is a descriptive study. Pandemics constitute a serious problem to global health with a major impact on the affected countries’ populations. The recent COVID-19 outbreak represents one of the most important viral pandemics lately. It reached Argentina 64 days after the first case was identified in China. Since then, several measures were taken by the Argentinian government to try to mitigate its impact in this initial stage. An updated report of the current situation and its management in different countries is of vital importance regarding global health issues and may serve for feedback and decision-making.

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1145
Author(s):  
Hakimeh Baghaei Daemi ◽  
Muhammad Fakhar-e-Alam Kulyar ◽  
Xinlin He ◽  
Chengfei Li ◽  
Morteza Karimpour ◽  
...  

Influenza is a highly known contagious viral infection that has been responsible for the death of many people in history with pandemics. These pandemics have been occurring every 10 to 30 years in the last century. The most recent global pandemic prior to COVID-19 was the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. A decade ago, the H1N1 virus caused 12,500 deaths in just 19 months globally. Now, again, the world has been challenged with another pandemic. Since December 2019, the first case of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection was detected in Wuhan. This infection has risen rapidly throughout the world; even the World Health Organization (WHO) announced COVID-19 as a worldwide emergency to ensure human health and public safety. This review article aims to discuss important issues relating to COVID-19, including clinical, epidemiological, and pathological features of COVID-19 and recent progress in diagnosis and treatment approaches for the COVID-19 infection. We also highlight key similarities and differences between COVID-19 and influenza A to ensure the theoretical and practical details of COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ingris Peláez-Ballestas ◽  
Claudia Infante-Castañeda ◽  
Liliana Giraldo-Rodríguez

Objective. To compare the perceptions and experiences between the A(H1N1) and Covid-19 pandemics in a univer­sity population. Materials and methods. Online surveys were administered during the influenza A(H1N1) –originated in Mexico in 2009– and Covid-19 epidemics. Measures: so­ciodemographic characteristics, knowledge, information and communication, perception of risk, physical and mental health, effects on daily life, and preventive behaviors. Results. This study included 24 998 respondents, 51.36% from the A(H1N1) group and 48.63% from the Covid-19 group. Differences were observed in the perception of severity. During the influenza A(H1N1) pandemic worry was the feeling reported most frequently, while for Covid-19 it was anxiety. Covid-19 had greater impact on students’ family economy and caused a higher uncertainty. Conclusions. The perceptions and ex­periences of the two pandemics were similar but the impact has been much greater for Covid-19, especially in terms of the severity, family economy, preventive behaviors, and uncertainty


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Mara Maciel-Lima ◽  
José Miguel Rasia ◽  
Rodrigo Cechelero Bagatelli ◽  
Giseli Gontarski ◽  
Máximo José D. Colares

This study aims to analyze how influenza A (H1N1) in 2009 was reported in the state of Paraná. A total of 189 articles were analyzed in two newspapers from Paraná. Pursuant to analysis, four themes were identified: the spread of the virus; the pandemic and fear; influenza in the health service; and influenza in public policies. By studying how influenza A was reported in the media, it was possible to see the social impact that the H1N1 pandemic represented for society, presenting challenges for public institutions and ordinary citizens, who sensed that they were in a high-risk group exposed to a potentially lethal virus. This disease radically changed the habits of a globalized community seeking to escape from vulnerability.


2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Vinck ◽  
L Isken ◽  
M Hooiveld ◽  
M C Trompenaars ◽  
J IJzermans ◽  
...  

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to analyse the impact of the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic on frontline public health workers in the Netherlands and to consider its implications for future pandemics. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was made available online (26 March to 26 May 2010) for frontline public health workers employed by the communicable disease departments of the public health services in the Netherlands (n=302). A total of 166 questionnaires (55%) were completed. The majority of respondents reported an increased workload, perceived as too busy (117 respondents, 70.5%) or extreme (13 respondents, 7.8%). Most respondents were not anxious about becoming infected (only seven were regularly concerned). The overall compliance with the control measures was good. The case definition was strictly applied by 110 of the 166 respondents (66%); 56 of 141 (39.7%) consistently consulted the Preparedness and Response Unit within a centralised assessment system, while 68 of 141 (48.2%) consulted the unit only at the beginning of the pandemic. Of 145 respondents with available data, 128 (88.3%) always used personal protective equipment. Reported adherence to the advice to discuss the various isolation measures with patients and their contacts was between 71% and 98.7%. Our study shows that the surveyed frontline public health workers considered the workload to be high during the first 3.5 months of the pandemic and their level of anxiety about becoming infected was reported to be low. During the pandemic, these workers were able to accommodate what they considered to be an excessive workload, even though initially their assignments were unfamiliar to them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. e01066-20
Author(s):  
Peter W. Cook ◽  
Thomas Stark ◽  
Joyce Jones ◽  
Rebecca Kondor ◽  
Natosha Zanders ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHuman-to-swine transmission of seasonal influenza viruses has led to sustained human-like influenza viruses circulating in the U.S. swine population. While some reverse zoonotic-origin viruses adapt and become enzootic in swine, nascent reverse zoonoses may result in virus detections that are difficult to classify as “swine-origin” or “human-origin” due to the genetic similarity of circulating viruses. This is the case for human-origin influenza A(H1N1) pandemic 2009 (pdm09) viruses detected in pigs following numerous reverse zoonosis events since the 2009 pandemic. We report the identification of two human infections with A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses originating from swine hosts and classify them as “swine-origin” variant influenza viruses based on phylogenetic analysis and sequence comparison methods. Phylogenetic analyses of viral genomes from two cases revealed these viruses were reassortants containing A(H1N1)pdm09 hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes with genetic combinations derived from the triple reassortant internal gene cassette. Follow-up investigations determined that one individual had direct exposure to swine in the week preceding illness onset, while another did not report swine exposure. The swine-origin A(H1N1) variant cases were resolved by full genome sequence comparison of the variant viruses to swine influenza genomes. However, if reassortment does not result in the acquisition of swine-associated genes and swine virus genomic sequences are not available from the exposure source, future cases may not be discernible. We have developed a pipeline that performs maximum likelihood analyses, a k-mer-based set difference algorithm, and random forest algorithms to identify swine-associated sequences in the hemagglutinin gene to differentiate between human-origin and swine-origin A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses.IMPORTANCE Influenza virus infects a wide range of hosts, resulting in illnesses that vary from asymptomatic cases to severe pneumonia and death. Viral transfer can occur between human and nonhuman hosts, resulting in human and nonhuman origin viruses circulating in novel hosts. In this work, we have identified the first case of a swine-origin influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus resulting in a human infection. This shows that these viruses not only circulate in swine hosts, but are continuing to evolve and distinguish themselves from previously circulating human-origin influenza viruses. The development of techniques for distinguishing human-origin and swine-origin viruses are necessary for the continued surveillance of influenza viruses. We show that unique genetic signatures can differentiate circulating swine-associated strains from circulating human-associated strains of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, and these signatures can be used to enhance surveillance of swine-origin influenza.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-50
Author(s):  
Ross MacKenzie

As I write this review, we are in the midst of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. The extent and impact of this pandemic is still unknown. Although daily reports on confirmed cases and deaths provide a constant stream of detailed information, it is not possible to predict with any degree of precision the impact the outbreak will have in society in general or on the life insurance industry in particular.1 The epidemiology of such disease outbreaks has been likened to a jigsaw puzzle, and we are now at the stage where the picture is intriguing even if we are not sure what we are seeing.2


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