scholarly journals Using health and demographic surveillance to understand the burden of disease in populations: The case of tuberculosis in rural South Africa1

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (69_suppl) ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Pronyk ◽  
Kathleen Kahn ◽  
Stephen M. Tollman
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Equal Proportion ◽  
Rural South ◽  
Duration Of Symptoms ◽  
Prolonged Duration ◽  
Demographic Surveillance Systems

Aims: To utilize the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) platform to assess the burden of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in a rural South African sub-district. Methods: During 1999, data from three sources were combined to estimate disease prevalence amongst a non-migrant adult population: (1) passive case-finding (PCF) through hospital register data; (2) active case finding (ACF) using a systematic household assessment of chronic coughers; and (3) verbal autopsy (VA) data on cause of death. Results: Of 66,840 residents, 38,251 permanent adult residents were included in the analysis. A total of 102 cases of PTB were detected through PCF. ACF sweep detected 366 chronic coughers with 6 cases of confirmed PTB. Among 28 PTB deaths detected by VA, 13 (46%) were not previously identified by the health service. The total PTB prevalence was 157/100,000; 110/100,000 of prevalent cases were detected by PCF. Among undetected cases, 24/ 100,000 were identified through ACF, while 23/100,000 were detected by the VA process. Conclusions: Amongst prevalent PTB cases in the permanent adult population, 70% were detected by the health service; 15% of cases were undiagnosed in the community, while an equal proportion died of PTB prior to diagnosis. The latter groups contributed disproportionately to infectiousness in the community through prolonged duration of symptoms. As most of these cases presented to the health service on a number of occasions, strengthening early case detection should remain the cornerstone of TB control efforts. Strategies to strengthen the application of health & demographic surveillance systems to disease surveillance are discussed.

scholarly journals Protocol: Leveraging a demographic and health surveillance system for Covid-19 Surveillance in rural KwaZulu-Natal

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark J. Siedner ◽  
Guy Harling ◽  
Anne Derache ◽  
Theresa Smit ◽  
Thandeka Khoza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Program ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Risk Minimization ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Public Sector Health ◽  
Demographic Surveillance Systems ◽  
The Impact

A coordinated system of disease surveillance will be critical to effectively control the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Such systems enable rapid detection and mapping of epidemics and inform allocation of scarce prevention and intervention resources. Although many lower- and middle-income settings lack infrastructure for optimal disease surveillance, health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSS) provide a unique opportunity for epidemic monitoring. This protocol describes a surveillance program at the Africa Health Research Institute’s Population Intervention Platform site in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The program leverages a longstanding HDSS in a rural, resource-limited setting with very high prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis to perform Covid-19 surveillance. Our primary aims include: describing the epidemiology of the Covid-19 epidemic in rural KwaZulu-Natal; determining the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and non-pharmaceutical control interventions (NPI) on behaviour and wellbeing; determining the impact of HIV and tuberculosis on Covid-19 susceptibility; and using collected data to support the local public-sector health response. The program involves telephone-based interviews with over 20,000 households every four months, plus a sub-study calling 750 households every two weeks. Each call asks a household representative how the epidemic and NPI are affecting the household and conducts a Covid-19 risk screen for all resident members. Any individuals screening positive are invited to a clinical screen, potential test and referral to necessary care – conducted in-person near their home following careful risk minimization procedures. In this protocol we report the details of our cohort design, questionnaires, data and reporting structures, and standard operating procedures in hopes that our project can inform similar efforts elsewhere.

scholarly journals Protocol: Leveraging a demographic and health surveillance system for Covid-19 Surveillance in rural KwaZulu-Natal

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Mark J. Siedner ◽  
Guy Harling ◽  
Anne Derache ◽  
Theresa Smit ◽  
Thandeka Khoza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Program ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Risk Minimization ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Public Sector Health ◽  
Demographic Surveillance Systems ◽  
The Impact

A coordinated system of disease surveillance will be critical to effectively control the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Such systems enable rapid detection and mapping of epidemics and inform allocation of scarce prevention and intervention resources. Although many lower- and middle-income settings lack infrastructure for optimal disease surveillance, health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSS) provide a unique opportunity for epidemic monitoring. This protocol describes a surveillance program at the Africa Health Research Institute’s Population Intervention Platform site in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The program leverages a longstanding HDSS in a rural, resource-limited setting with very high prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis to perform Covid-19 surveillance. Our primary aims include: describing the epidemiology of the Covid-19 epidemic in rural KwaZulu-Natal; determining the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and non-pharmaceutical control interventions (NPI) on behaviour and wellbeing; determining the impact of HIV and tuberculosis on Covid-19 susceptibility; and using collected data to support the local public-sector health response. The program involves telephone-based interviews with over 20,000 households every four months, plus a sub-study calling 750 households every two weeks. Each call asks a household representative how the epidemic and NPI are affecting the household and conducts a Covid-19 risk screen for all resident members. Any individuals screening positive are invited to a clinical screen, potential test and referral to necessary care – conducted in-person near their home following careful risk minimization procedures. In this protocol we report the details of our cohort design, questionnaires, data and reporting structures, and standard operating procedures in hopes that our project can inform similar efforts elsewhere.

scholarly journals An apple a day: an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Norway associated with self-pressed apple juice

2019 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Robertson ◽  
T. T. Temesgen ◽  
K. R. Tysnes ◽  
J. E. Eikås
Keyword(s):  
Apple Juice ◽  
Clinical Signs ◽  
Commercial Production ◽  
Duration Of Symptoms ◽  
Food Borne ◽  
Prolonged Duration ◽  
Hygienic Measures ◽  
Contamination Event ◽  
Salad Vegetables ◽  
Timely Reminder

AbstractIn the autumn of 2018, an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis affected adult employees from the same company in Western Norway. The organism wasCryptosporidium parvum, GP60 subtype IIaA14G1R1. All those infected had drunk from the same container of self-pressed apple juice. Incubation period (1 week) and clinical signs were similar among those infected, although some experienced a more prolonged duration of symptoms (up to 2–3 weeks) than others. The infections resulted after consumption from only one of 40 containers of juice and not from any of the other containers. It seems that althoughCryptosporidiumoocysts were detected in a sample from another container, the contamination did not affect the whole batch. This is perhaps indicative of a restricted contamination event, either from contaminated ground in the orchard, or during collection of the fruit, or during processing. Although outbreaks of food-borne cryptosporidiosis have previously been associated with consumption of contaminated apple juice, most of the more recent outbreaks of food-borne cryptosporidiosis have been associated with salad vegetables or herbs. This outbreak, the first outside USA reported to be associated with apple juice, is a timely reminder that such juice is a suitable transmission vehicle forCryptosporidiumoocysts, and that appropriate hygienic measures are essential in the production of such juice, including artisanal (non-commercial) production.

A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Three Different Methods of Psychiatric Case Finding in the General Population

1980 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
pp. 540-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohan K. Isaac ◽  
R. L. Kapur
Keyword(s):  
Adult Population ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Case Detection ◽  
Interview Schedule ◽  
Sophisticated Method ◽  
Effectiveness Analysis ◽  
Psychiatric Case ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Adult Member

SummaryA study was carried out to compare the sensitivity as well as cost of three different methods of psychiatric case detection. It was found that the simplest method, which involved interviewing about 3 per cent of the adult population, with a questionnaire taking only five minutes to complete, picked up as many adult epileptics and nearly as many psychotics as the inquiry with all the adults in the population using a sophisticated structured interview schedule. A method of medium complexity, in which the short five-minute questionnaire was given to one adult member of each family, detected in addition to all adult epileptics and psychotics, and many juvenile epileptics and mentally retarded.The cost of the simplest method was one-ninth and that of the method of medium complexity, one-fifth of the cost of the most sophisticated method.The method of medium complexity is recommended for use in the rural psychiatry programme of the developing countries.

scholarly journals Digital epidemiology and global health security; an interdisciplinary conversation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Eckmanns ◽  
Henning Füller ◽  
Stephen L. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Global Health Security ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Infectious Disease Surveillance ◽  
Digital Epidemiology ◽  
Perception Of Health

Contemporary infectious disease surveillance systems aim to employ the speed and scope of big data in an attempt to provide global health security. Both shifts - the perception of health problems through the framework of global health security and the corresponding technological approaches – imply epistemological changes, methodological ambivalences as well as manifold societal effects. Bringing current findings from social sciences and public health praxis into a dialogue, this conversation style contribution points out several broader implications of changing disease surveillance. The conversation covers epidemiological issues such as the shift from expert knowledge to algorithmic knowledge, the securitization of global health, and the construction of new kinds of threats. Those developments are detailed and discussed in their impacts for health provision in a broader sense.

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