scholarly journals Ocular manifestations of emerging viral diseases

Eye ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashwin Venkatesh ◽  
Ravi Patel ◽  
Simran Goyal ◽  
Timothy Rajaratnam ◽  
Anant Sharma ◽  
...  

AbstractEmerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are an increasing threat to public health on a global scale. In recent times, the most prominent outbreaks have constituted RNA viruses, spreading via droplets (COVID-19 and Influenza A H1N1), directly between humans (Ebola and Marburg), via arthropod vectors (Dengue, Zika, West Nile, Chikungunya, Crimean Congo) and zoonotically (Lassa fever, Nipah, Rift Valley fever, Hantaviruses). However, specific approved antiviral therapies and vaccine availability are scarce, and public health measures remain critical. Patients can present with a spectrum of ocular manifestations. Emerging infectious diseases should therefore be considered in the differential diagnosis of ocular inflammatory conditions in patients inhabiting or returning from endemic territories, and more general vigilance is advisable in the context of a global pandemic. Eye specialists are in a position to facilitate swift diagnosis, improve clinical outcomes, and contribute to wider public health efforts during outbreaks. This article reviews those emerging viral diseases associated with reports of ocular manifestations and summarizes details pertinent to practicing eye specialists.

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina A Top ◽  
Kristine Macartney ◽  
Julie A Bettinger ◽  
Ben Tan ◽  
Christopher C Blyth ◽  
...  

Sentinel surveillance of acute hospitalisations in response to infectious disease emergencies such as the 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic is well described, but recognition of its potential to supplement routine public health surveillance and provide scalability for emergency responses has been limited. We summarise the achievements of two national paediatric hospital surveillance networks relevant to vaccine programmes and emerging infectious diseases in Canada (Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active; IMPACT from 1991) and Australia (Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance; PAEDS from 2007) and discuss opportunities and challenges in applying their model to other contexts. Both networks were established to enhance capacity to measure vaccine preventable disease burden, vaccine programme impact, and safety, with their scope occasionally being increased with emerging infectious diseases’ surveillance. Their active surveillance has increased data accuracy and utility for syndromic conditions (e.g. encephalitis), pathogen-specific diseases (e.g. pertussis, rotavirus, influenza), and adverse events following immunisation (e.g. febrile seizure), enabled correlation of biological specimens with clinical context and supported responses to emerging infections (e.g. pandemic influenza, parechovirus, COVID-19). The demonstrated long-term value of continuous, rather than incident-related, operation of these networks in strengthening routine surveillance, bridging research gaps, and providing scalable public health response, supports their applicability to other countries.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. S203-S210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis J. Radonovich ◽  
Trish M. Perl ◽  
Victoria Davey ◽  
Howard Cohen

ABSTRACTThe respiratory protective equipment necessary to protect health care workers from the novel swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus is not known. The knowledge gap created by this unanswered question has caused substantial debate and controversy on a global scale, leading public health organizations to feel pressured into issuing decisive recommendations despite a lack of supportive data. Changes in clinical practice caused by public health guidance during such high-profile events can be expected to establish a new standard of care. Also possible is an unforeseen gradual transition to widespread N95 respirator use, driven by public health pressures instead of science, for all outbreaks of influenza or influenza-like illness. Therefore, public health organizations and other influential institutions should take care to avoid making changes to established practice standards, if possible, unless these changes are bolstered by sound scientific evidence. Until definitive comparative effectiveness clinical trials are conducted, the answer to this question will continue to remain elusive. In the meantime, relying on ethical principles that have been substantiated over time may help guide public health and clinical decisions. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3(Suppl 2):S203–S210)


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-Yuan Huang ◽  
Tzai-Hung Wen ◽  
Yu-Shiuan Tsai

From the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, to the 2009 swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, to the projected highly pathogenic avian influenza A event, emerging infectious diseases highlight the importance of computational epidemiology to assess potential intervention policies. Hence, an important and timely research goal is a general-purpose and extendable simulation model that integrates two major epidemiological factors—age group and population movement—and substantial amounts of demographic, geographic, and epidemiologic data. In this paper, we describe a model that we have named FLUed for Four-layer Universal Epidemic Dynamics that integrates complex daily commuting network data into multiple age-structured compartmental models. FLUed has four contact structures for simulating the epidemic dynamics of emerging infectious diseases, assessing the potential efficacies of various intervention policies, and identifying the potential impacts of spatial-temporal epidemic trends on specific populations. We used data from the seasonal influenza A and 2009 swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) epidemics to validate model reliability and suitability and to assess the potential impacts of intervention policies and variation in initial outbreak areas for novel/seasonal influenza A in Taiwan. We believe that the FLUed model represents an effective tool for public health agencies responsible for initiating early responses to potential pandemics.


2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Janies ◽  
Igor O. Voronkin ◽  
Manirupa Das ◽  
Jori Hardman ◽  
Travis W. Treseder ◽  
...  

AbstractEmerging infectious diseases are critical issues of public health and the economic and social stability of nations. As demonstrated by the international response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and influenza A, rapid genomic sequencing is a crucial tool to understand diseases that occur at the interface of human and animal populations. However, our ability to make sense of sequence data lags behind our ability to acquire the data. The potential of sequence data on pathogens is not fully realized until raw data are translated into public health intelligence. Sequencing technologies have become highly mechanized. If the political will for data sharing remains strong, the frontier for progress in emerging infectious diseases will be in analysis of sequence data and translation of results into better public health science and policy. For example, applying analytical tools such as Supramap (http://supramap.osu.edu) to genomic data for pathogens, public health scientists can track specific mutations in pathogens that confer the ability to infect humans or resist drugs. The results produced by the Supramap application are compelling visualizations of pathogen lineages and features mapped into geographic information systems that can be used to test hypotheses and to follow the spread of diseases across geography and hosts and communicate the results to a wide audience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1026-1033
Author(s):  
Nivedha Valliammai Mahalingam ◽  
Abilasha R ◽  
Kavitha S

Enormous successes have been obtained against the control of major epidemic diseases, such as SARS, MERS, Ebola, Swine Flu in the past. Dynamic interplay of biological, socio-cultural and ecological factors, together with novel aspects of human-animal interphase, pose additional challenges with respect to the emergence of infectious diseases. The important challenges faced in the control and prevention of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases range from understanding the impact of factors that are necessary for the emergence, to development of strengthened surveillance systems that can mitigate human suffering and death. The aim of the current study is to assess the awareness of symptomatic differences between viral diseases like COVID-19, SARS, Swine flu and common cold among dental students that support the prevention of emergence or re-emergence. Cross-sectional type of study conducted among the undergraduate students comprising 100 Subjects. A questionnaire comprising 15 questions in total were framed, and responses were collected in Google forms in SPSS Software statistical analysis. The study has concluded that dental students have an awareness of the symptomatic differences between infectious viral disease. The study concluded that the awareness of symptomatic differences between viral diseases like COVID-19, SARS, Swine flu, Common cold is good among the dental students who would pave the way for early diagnosis and avoid spreading of such diseases. A further awareness can be created by regular webinars, seminars and brainstorming sessions among these healthcare professionals.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Evans ◽  
Thomas Inglesby

This chapter introduces ethical issues that arise in the context of biosecurity: policies and actions intended to prevent the development or emergence, or mitigate the consequences, of serious biological threats. These threats could include deliberate biological weapon attacks (bioterrorism), pandemics, emerging infectious diseases, or major laboratory accidents. The basic values that underpin these public health concerns are first introduced. Ethical issues that arise before, during, and following a biosecurity crisis are then examined, including issues of resource allocation, dual-use research, and the possibility of quarantine. Their resolution requires trade-offs among different ethical values, including utility, fairness, and liberty.


Author(s):  
A. Wilder-Smith

Abstract Purpose of review The COVID-19 pandemic poses a major global health threat. The rapid spread was facilitated by air travel although rigorous travel bans and lockdowns were able to slow down the spread. How does COVID-19 compare with other emerging viral diseases of the past two decades? Recent findings Viral outbreaks differ in many ways, such as the individuals most at risk e.g. pregnant women for Zika and the elderly for COVID-19, their vectors of transmission, their fatality rate, and their transmissibility often measured as basic reproduction number. The risk of geographic spread via air travel differs significantly between emerging infectious diseases. Summary COVID-19 is not associated with the highest case fatality rate compared with other emerging viral diseases such as SARS and Ebola, but the combination of a high reproduction number, superspreading events and a globally immunologically naïve population has led to the highest global number of deaths in the past 20 decade compared to any other pandemic.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Bishnu Prasad Upadhyay

Influenza virus type A and B are responsible for seasonal epidemics as well as pandemics in human. Influenza A viruses are further divided into two major groups namely, low pathogenic seasonal influenza (A/H1N1, A/H1N1 pdm09, A/H3N2) and highly pathogenic influenza virus (H5N1, H5N6, H7N9) on the basis of two surface antigens: hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Mutations, including substitutions, deletions, and insertions, are one of the most important mechanisms for producing new variant of influenza viruses. During the last 30 years; more than 50 viral threat has been evolved in South-East Asian countriesof them influenza is one of the major emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases of global concern. Similar to tropical and sub-tropical countries of Southeast Asia; circulation of A/H1N1 pdm09, A/H3N2 and influenza B has been circulating throughout the year with the peak during July-November in Nepal. However; the rate of infection transmission reach peak during the post-rain and winter season of Nepal.


Author(s):  
Meghit Boumediene Khaled ◽  
Nada Benajiba

The immune system is involved in the protection of host against environmental agents such as pathogenic micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and chemicals, thereby preserving the integrity of the body. To preserve organism defense mechanisms, adequate nutritional status should be maintained with appropriate intakes of calories, vitamins, minerals and water that should be continuously provided by a healthy diet. The emergence of new infectious diseases with new pathogenic properties constitutes a serious health issue worldwide. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) represents one of the most recent emerging infectious diseases, caused by a novel coronavirus member called (SARS-CoV-2), identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019, and recognized as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). The nutritional status of each COVID-19-infected patient should be assessed prior undertaking treatments. Nutritional support should be the basis of management of any infected individual. However, prevention measures remain the first priority and strategy to develop throughout proper hygiene, healthy diet and staying home. Keywords: Nutrition, Immune system, Viral diseases, SARS-CoV-2.


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