Biosafety considerations for in vivo work with risk group 3 pathogens in large animals and wildlife in North America

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Zoonotic Pathogens ◽  
Natural Hosts ◽  
Domestic Livestock ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Large Animals ◽  
Biosafety Level

AbstractRegulations in the United States require animal biosafety level 3 (ABSL-3) or biosafety level 3 agriculture (BSL-3-Ag) containment for many endemic zoonotic pathogens and etiologic agents of foreign animal diseases. In an effort to protect public health, billions of dollars were invested in regulatory programs over many years to reduce the prevalence of zoonotic pathogens such as Brucella and Mycobacterium bovis in domestic livestock. In addition to research needs in domestic livestock hosts, the establishment of brucellosis and tuberculosis in wildlife in the United States has created a need for research studies addressing these zoonotic diseases. As guidelines in the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL, 2009) for BSL-3 and BSL-3-Ag facilities are primarily directed toward laboratory or vivarium facilities, additional issues should be considered in designing large animal containment facilities for domestic livestock and/or wildlife. Flight distance, herd orientation, social needs, aggressiveness, and predictability are all factors we considered on a species by species basis for designing our containment facilities and for work practices with large ruminants. Although safety risk cannot be completely eliminated when working with large animals, studies in natural hosts are critical for advancing vaccine and diagnostic development, and providing basic knowledge of disease pathogenesis in natural hosts. Data gathered in these types of studies are vital for state and national regulatory personnel in their efforts to design strategies to control or eradicate diseases such as brucellosis and tuberculosis in their natural hosts, whether it is domestic livestock or wildlife. It is likely that failure to address the prevalence of disease in wildlife reservoirs will lead to re-emergence in domestic livestock. The overall benefit of these studies is to protect public health, provide economic benefits to producers, and protect the economic investment made in regulatory programs.

scholarly journals A Standardized Inoculation Protocol to Test Wheat Cultivars for Reaction to Head Blast Caused by Magnaporthe oryzae (Triticum pathotype)

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Cruz ◽  
W. W. Bockus ◽  
J. P. Stack ◽  
B. Valent ◽  
J. N. Maciel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Magnaporthe Oryzae ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wheat Cultivars ◽  
Wheat Production ◽  
Wheat Blast ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Biosafety Level

Wheat blast, caused by the Triticum pathotype of Magnaporthe oryzae, poses a significant threat to wheat production worldwide. Because this pathotype does not occur in the United States, it is important to prepare for its possible introduction. As part of this preparation, over 500 U.S. wheat cultivars were tested for susceptibility or resistance to head blast. Inoculations were conducted under biosafety level 3 conditions. However, the protocols to phenotype wheat cultivars vary among researchers, and head blast inoculation protocols need to be standardized so that results can be easily interpreted and shared internationally. The protocol presented, based on several years' experience, is recommended for common use to facilitate direct comparison of disease phenotyping results among researchers. Accepted for publication 12 August 2016.

Can increases in Twitter posts predict increases in cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in the United States? Evidence that social media can inform epidemic surveillance. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruoyan Sun ◽  
Henna Budhwani
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Cumulative Incidence ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education Attainment ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
Per Capita

BACKGROUND Though public health systems are responding rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, outcomes from publicly available, crowd-sourced big data may assist in helping to identify hot spots, prioritize equipment allocation and staffing, while also informing health policy related to “shelter in place” and social distancing recommendations. OBJECTIVE To assess if the rising state-level prevalence of COVID-19 related posts on Twitter (tweets) is predictive of state-level cumulative COVID-19 incidence after controlling for socio-economic characteristics. METHODS We identified extracted COVID-19 related tweets from January 21st to March 7th (2020) across all 50 states (N = 7,427,057). Tweets were combined with state-level characteristics and confirmed COVID-19 cases to determine the association between public commentary and cumulative incidence. RESULTS The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 cases varied significantly across states. Ratio of tweet increase (p=0.03), number of physicians per 1,000 population (p=0.01), education attainment (p=0.006), income per capita (p = 0.002), and percentage of adult population (p=0.003) were positively associated with cumulative incidence. Ratio of tweet increase was significantly associated with the logarithmic of cumulative incidence (p=0.06) with a coefficient of 0.26. CONCLUSIONS An increase in the prevalence of state-level tweets was predictive of an increase in COVID-19 diagnoses, providing evidence that Twitter can be a valuable surveillance tool for public health.

Review of form 483s and warning letters to pharmaceutical manufacturers issued by USFDA

2021 ◽  
pp. 174113432110235
Author(s):  
Chandan Saini ◽  
Ashish Miglani ◽  
Pankaj Musyuni ◽  
Geeta Aggarwal
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Regulatory Authority ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers ◽  
The World ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
A Company ◽  
Responsible Person

Regular inspections are carried out to ensure system conformity by the Food and Drugs Regulatory Authority (FDA) of the United States one of the most stringent regulatory authorities in the world. The inspectors send Form 483 to the management after the inspection, detailing the inappropriate conditions. Because the FDA guidelines are difficult to comply with, a company can contravene the regulations. If any significant infringements can affect the protection, quality, effectiveness, or public health of the drug is identified, the FDA issues advice to the company. Warning Letters (WL) shall be an official notification of non-compliance with federal law within a period to be issued by manufacturer, clinician, distributor, or responsible person in the company. The delivery of a letter has a considerable impact on the company's reputation and position in the market. Inadequate WL reactions could lead to a refusal, import denial, memorandum or even conviction and order. A brief study was conducted in this document of Form 483 and WL for four years (2017–2020) on an understanding the regulatory provisions.

scholarly journals Challenges in evaluating the use of viral sequence data to identify HIV transmission networks for public health

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rami Kantor ◽  
John P. Fulton ◽  
Jon Steingrimsson ◽  
Vladimir Novitsky ◽  
Mark Howison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Hiv Transmission ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Viral Sequence ◽  
Transmission Networks ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
The World

AbstractGreat efforts are devoted to end the HIV epidemic as it continues to have profound public health consequences in the United States and throughout the world, and new interventions and strategies are continuously needed. The use of HIV sequence data to infer transmission networks holds much promise to direct public heath interventions where they are most needed. As these new methods are being implemented, evaluating their benefits is essential. In this paper, we recognize challenges associated with such evaluation, and make the case that overcoming these challenges is key to the use of HIV sequence data in routine public health actions to disrupt HIV transmission networks.

scholarly journals Dual MD–MPH Degree Students in the United States: Moving the Medical Workforce Toward Population Health

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492097842
Author(s):  
Jo Marie Reilly ◽  
Christine M. Plepys ◽  
Michael R. Cousineau
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Health Care Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Master Of Public Health ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Public Health Training ◽  
The Impact

Objective A growing need exists to train physicians in population health to meet the increasing need and demand for physicians with leadership, health data management/metrics, and epidemiology skills to better serve the health of the community. This study examines current trends in students pursuing a dual doctor of medicine (MD)–master of public health (MPH) degree (MD–MPH) in the United States. Methods We conducted an extensive literature review of existing MD–MPH databases to determine characteristics (eg, sex, race/ethnicity, MPH area of study) of this student cohort in 2019. We examined a trend in the MD community to pursue an MPH career, adding additional public health and health care policy training to the MD workforce. We conducted targeted telephone interviews with 20 admissions personnel and faculty at schools offering MD–MPH degrees in the United States with the highest number of matriculants and graduates. Interviews focused on curricula trends in medical schools that offer an MD–MPH degree. Results No literature describes the US MD–MPH cohort, and available MD–MPH databases are limited and incomplete. We found a 434% increase in the number of students pursuing an MD–MPH degree from 2010 to 2018. The rate of growth was greater than the increase in either the number of medical students (16%) or the number of MPH students (65%) alone. Moreover, MD–MPH students as a percentage of total MPH students more than tripled, from 1.1% in 2010 to 3.6% in 2018. Conclusions As more MD students pursue public health training, the impact of an MPH degree on medical school curricula, MD–MPH graduates, and MD–MPH career pursuits should be studied using accurate and comprehensive databases.

scholarly journals 8.I. Workshop: Populist radical right and health: National policies and global trends

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
National Policies ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract Populist radical right (PRR) parties have been steadily expanding, not only in the number of supporters they gain and the seats they win in governments, but more importantly they have been increasingly elected into governmental coalitions as well as presidential offices. With the prominence of these authoritarian, nationalistic and populist parties, it is often difficult to discern what kind of policies they actually stand for. Particularly with regards to the welfare state and public health, it is not always clear what these parties stand for. At times they call for a reduction of health-related welfare provision, despite the fact that this goes against the will of the “ordinary people”, their core supporters; they often promote radical reductions of welfare benefits among socially excluded groups - usually immigrants, whom are most in need of such services; and finally they often mobilize against evidence-based policies. The purpose of this workshop is to present the PRRs actual involvement in health care and health policies across various countries. As PRR parties increase and develop within but also outside of the European continent it is necessary to keep track of their impact, particularly with regards to health and social policies. Although research surrounding PRR parties has significantly expanded over the last years, their impact on the welfare state and more specifically health policies still remains sparse. This workshop will present findings from the first comprehensive book connecting populist radical right parties with actual health and social policy effects in Europe (Eastern and Western) as well as in the United States. This workshop presents five country cases (Austria, Poland, the Netherlands, the United States) from the book Populist Radical Right and Health: National Policies and Global Trends. All five presentations will address PRR parties or leaders and their influence on health, asking the questions “How influential are PRR parties or leaders when it comes to health policy?” “Do the PRR actually have an impact on policy outcomes?” and “What is the actual impact of the health policies implemented by PRR parties or leaders?” After these five presentations, the participants of the workshop will be engaged in an interactive discussion. Key messages As the number of PRR parties increase worldwide and their involvement in national governments become inevitable, new light must be shed on the impact these political parties have on public health. Politics needs to become better integrated into public health research. The rise of PRR parties in Europe might have serious consequences for public health and needs to be further explored.

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