Public health response to a rabid kitten--Four states, 2007

Issues of responsibility and blame are very rarely discussed in public health training, but are seldom forgotten in practice. Blame often follows a crisis, and leaders of health agencies should be able to think strategically about how to handle such accusations before being faced with the pain of dealing with them. When the health agency is not at all at fault, officials can make the case for a strong public health response without reservation. When the agency is entirely to blame, a quick and sincere apology can allow the agency to retain credibility. The most difficult situation is when the agency is partly to blame. The goal in this situation is to accept the appropriate amount of blame while working quickly to resolve the crisis.

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Gender and the overdose crisis in North America: Moving past gender-neutral approaches in the public health response

International Journal of Drug Policy ◽

10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.05.002 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 69 ◽

pp. 43-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Alexandra B. Collins ◽

Geoff Bardwell ◽

Ryan McNeil ◽

Jade Boyd

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

North America ◽

Public Health Response ◽

The Public ◽

Health Response ◽

Gender Neutral

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Evaluating the accuracy of Listeria monocytogenes assemblies from quasimetagenomic samples using long and short reads

BMC Genomics ◽

10.1186/s12864-021-07702-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Seth Commichaux ◽

Kiran Javkar ◽

Padmini Ramachandran ◽

Niranjan Nagarajan ◽

Denis Bertrand ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Public Health Response ◽

High Quality ◽

Short Read ◽

Short Reads ◽

The Core ◽

Long Reads ◽

Health Response ◽

Long Read ◽

Core Genes

Abstract Background Whole genome sequencing of cultured pathogens is the state of the art public health response for the bioinformatic source tracking of illness outbreaks. Quasimetagenomics can substantially reduce the amount of culturing needed before a high quality genome can be recovered. Highly accurate short read data is analyzed for single nucleotide polymorphisms and multi-locus sequence types to differentiate strains but cannot span many genomic repeats, resulting in highly fragmented assemblies. Long reads can span repeats, resulting in much more contiguous assemblies, but have lower accuracy than short reads. Results We evaluated the accuracy of Listeria monocytogenes assemblies from enrichments (quasimetagenomes) of naturally-contaminated ice cream using long read (Oxford Nanopore) and short read (Illumina) sequencing data. Accuracy of ten assembly approaches, over a range of sequencing depths, was evaluated by comparing sequence similarity of genes in assemblies to a complete reference genome. Long read assemblies reconstructed a circularized genome as well as a 71 kbp plasmid after 24 h of enrichment; however, high error rates prevented high fidelity gene assembly, even at 150X depth of coverage. Short read assemblies accurately reconstructed the core genes after 28 h of enrichment but produced highly fragmented genomes. Hybrid approaches demonstrated promising results but had biases based upon the initial assembly strategy. Short read assemblies scaffolded with long reads accurately assembled the core genes after just 24 h of enrichment, but were highly fragmented. Long read assemblies polished with short reads reconstructed a circularized genome and plasmid and assembled all the genes after 24 h enrichment but with less fidelity for the core genes than the short read assemblies. Conclusion The integration of long and short read sequencing of quasimetagenomes expedited the reconstruction of a high quality pathogen genome compared to either platform alone. A new and more complete level of information about genome structure, gene order and mobile elements can be added to the public health response by incorporating long read analyses with the standard short read WGS outbreak response.

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Dynamic quarantine: a comparative analysis of the Chilean public health response to COVID-19

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s0950268820002678 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 148 ◽

Author(s):

Gonzalo Grebe ◽

Javier A. Vélez ◽

Anton Tiutiunnyk ◽

Diego Aragón-Caqueo ◽

Javier Fernández-Salinas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Transmission Rate ◽

National Level ◽

Metropolitan Region ◽

Public Health Response ◽

Country Level ◽

Health Response ◽

Primary Vector

Abstract In this study, an analysis of the Chilean public health response to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 is presented. The analysis is based on the daily transmission rate (DTR). The Chilean response has been based on dynamic quarantines, which are established, lifted or prolonged based on the percentage of infected individuals in the fundamental administrative sections, called communes. This analysis is performed at a national level, at the level of the Metropolitan Region (MR) and at the commune level in the MR according to whether the commune did or did not enter quarantine between late March and mid-May of 2020. The analysis shows a certain degree of efficacy in controlling the pandemic using the dynamic quarantine strategy. However, it also shows that apparent control has only been partially achieved to date. With this policy, the control of the DTR partially falls to 4%, where it settles, and the MR is the primary vector of infection at the country level. For this reason, we can conclude that the MR has not managed to control the disease, with variable results within its own territory.

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Effect of COVID-19 on childhood Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in Chengdu, China

BMC Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s12887-021-02679-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ying Zhang ◽

Yijie Huang ◽

Tao Ai ◽

Jun Luo ◽

Hanmin Liu

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mycoplasma Pneumoniae ◽

Close Contact ◽

Serum Antibody ◽

Pathogen Transmission ◽

Western China ◽

Public Health Response ◽

The Public ◽

Health Response ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a change in the incidence and transmission of respiratory pathogens was observed. Here, we retrospectively analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on the epidemiologic characteristics of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection among children in Chengdu, one of the largest cities of western China. Method M. pneumoniae infection was diagnosed in 33,345 pediatric patients with respiratory symptoms at the Chengdu Women’s & Children’s Central Hospital between January 2017 and December 2020, based on a serum antibody titer of ≥1:160 measured by the passive agglutination assay. Differences in infection rates were examined by sex, age, and temporal distribution. Results Two epidemic outbreaks occurred between October-December 2017 and April-December 2019, and two infection peaks were detected in the second and fourth quarters of 2017, 2018, and 2019. Due to the public health response to COVID-19, the number of positive M. pneumoniae cases significantly decreased in the second quarter of 2020. The number of M. pneumoniae infection among children aged 3–6 years was higher than that in other age groups. Conclusions Preschool children are more susceptible to M. pneumoniae infection and close contact appears to be the predominant factor favoring pathogen transmission. The public health response to COVID-19 can effectively control the transmission of M. pneumoniae.

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