The first laboratory-confirmed imported infections of SARS-CoV-2 in Sudan

Abstract Background The rapidly growing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has challenged health systems globally. Here we report the first identified infections of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; aetiology of COVID-19) among recent international arrivals to Sudan and their contacts. Methods Suspected cases were identified clinically and/or epidemiologically. Samples from suspected cases and their contacts were tested in the National Influenza Centre following World Health Organization protocols. Two real-time reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were used to detect and confirm SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results Seven cases of COVID-19, including two deaths, were confirmed in Sudan between 27 February and 30 March 2020. Suspected cases were identified and tested. As of 30 March, no local transmission was yet reported in the country. Fifty-nine percent of the suspected cases were international travellers coming from areas with current COVID-19 epidemics. Cough and fever were the major symptoms, presented by 65% and 60% of the suspected cases, respectively. By early April, an additional seven cases were confirmed through limited contact tracing that identified the first locally acquired infections in recent contact with imported cases. Conclusions The high mortality rate of COVID-19 cases in Sudan might be due to limitations in test and trace and case management services. Unfortunately, infections have spread further into other states and the country has no capacity for mass community screening to better estimate disease prevalence. Therefore external support is urgently needed to improve the healthcare and surveillance systems.

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Establishment of the first World Health Organization International Genetic Reference Panel for quantitation of BCR-ABL mRNA

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood-2010-06-291641 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 116 (22) ◽

pp. e111-e117 ◽

Cited By ~ 105

Author(s):

Helen E. White ◽

Paul Matejtschuk ◽

Peter Rigsby ◽

Jean Gabert ◽

Feng Lin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽

World Health Organization ◽

Real Time ◽

Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽

Reference Panel ◽

World Health ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Health Organization ◽

First World

Serial quantitation of BCR-ABL mRNA levels is an important indicator of therapeutic response for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia and Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but there is substantial variation in the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction methodologies used by different testing laboratories. To help improve the comparability of results between centers we sought to develop accredited reference reagents that are directly linked to the BCR-ABL international scale. After assessment of candidate cell lines, a reference material panel comprising 4 different dilution levels of freeze-dried preparations of K562 cells diluted in HL60 cells was prepared. After performance evaluation, the materials were assigned fixed percent BCR-ABL/control gene values according to the International Scale. A recommendation that the 4 materials be established as the first World Health Organization International Genetic Reference Panel for quantitation of BCR-ABL translocation by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was approved by the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization of the World Health Organization in November 2009. We consider that the development of these reagents is a significant milestone in the standardization of this clinically important test, but because they are a limited resource we suggest that their availability is restricted to manufacturers of secondary reference materials.

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Chest Radiography in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Correlation with Clinical Course

Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore ◽

10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.2020106 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 49 (7) ◽

pp. 456-461

Author(s):

Joel C Zhou ◽

Terrence CH Hui ◽

Cher Heng Tan ◽

Hau Wei Hau Wei Khoo ◽

Barnaby E Young ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Case Series ◽

World Health ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Close Monitoring ◽

First Line ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Nasal Swabs ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Health Organization ◽

Limited Sensitivity

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. A definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 is made after a positive result is obtained on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay. In Singapore, rigorous contact tracing was practised to contain the spread of the virus. Nasal swabs and chest radiographs (CXR) were also taken from individuals who were suspected to be infected by COVID-19 upon their arrival at a centralised screening centre. From our experience, about 40% of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had initial CXR that appeared “normal”. In this case series, we described the temporal evolution of COVID-19 in patients with an initial “normal” CXR. Since CXR has limited sensitivity and specificity in COVID-19, it is not suitable as a first-line diagnostic tool. However, when CXR changes become unequivocally abnormal, close monitoring is recommended to manage potentially severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Key words: Diagnostic Radiology, Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary

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DIRECT RT-qPCR DETECTION OF SARS-CoV-2 RNA FROM PATIENT NASOPHARYNGEAL SWABS WITHOUT AN RNA EXTRACTION STEP

10.1101/2020.03.20.001008 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Emily A. Bruce ◽

Meei-Li Huang ◽

Garrett A. Perchetti ◽

Scott Tighe ◽

Pheobe Laaguiby ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽

Diagnostic Testing ◽

Rna Extraction ◽

World Health ◽

Clinical Samples ◽

Extraction Step ◽

The World ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Health Organization

ABSTRACTThe ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented need for rapid diagnostic testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend a standard assay that includes an RNA extraction step from a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab followed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to detect the purified SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The current global shortage of RNA extraction kits has caused a severe bottleneck to COVID-19 testing. We hypothesized that SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be detected from NP samples via a direct RT-qPCR assay that omits the RNA extraction step altogether, and tested this hypothesis on a series of blinded clinical samples. The direct RT-qPCR approach correctly identified 92% of NP samples (n = 155) demonstrated to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA by traditional clinical diagnostic RT-qPCR that included an RNA extraction. Thus, direct RT-qPCR could be a front-line approach to identify the substantial majority of COVID-19 patients, reserving a repeat test with RNA extraction for those individuals with high suspicion of infection but an initial negative result. This strategy would drastically ease supply chokepoints of COVID-19 testing and should be applicable throughout the world.

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COVID-19: a brief review

Journal of Pathology of Nepal ◽

10.3126/jpn.v10i1.28946 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 1659-1662

Author(s):

Niranjan Nayak ◽

Arnab Ghosh ◽

Dharma Raj Bhatta ◽

Dilasma Gharti Magar

Keyword(s):

Clinical Features ◽

Genomic Sequence ◽

Diffuse Alveolar Damage ◽

World Health ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Cytokines And Chemokines ◽

Novel Virus ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Health Organization

In December 2019, Wuhan, in China, became the center of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown cause. In January 2020, a novel coronavirus was identified. Later the whole genomic sequence of this novel virus was established. The World Health Organization named the disease “COVID-19” and marked it as a pandemic. The origin of the virus is still conjectural. Studies suggested markedly increased levels of several pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in these patients, which lead to injury to several organs. The organ which is most commonly damaged is the lungs. On histopathology, lung shows diffuse alveolar damage with hyaline membrane formation. The incubation period ranges from 1-14 days. The clinical features vary widely, from asymptomatic to multi-organ failure and shock. The common clinical features are related to the respiratory system. For diagnosis, oropharyngeal/nasopharyngeal swabs should be collected by Dacron swabs under proper precaution and the samples should be collected in viral transport media. The viral ribonuclei acid is detected by Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction. Till now no definite therapy or vaccination is available and the main approach to manage the pandemic is by preventive measures like social distancing, hygiene maintenance, and contact tracing.

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Mayaro virus in Latin America and the Caribbean

Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública ◽

10.26633/rpsp.2020.14 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Niloofar Ganjian ◽

Ana Riviere-Cinnamond

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Journal Articles ◽

Academic Literature ◽

Country Level ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Imported Cases ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Mayaro Virus ◽

Health Organization

Objectives. To assess the distribution of Mayaro virus (MAYV) in Latin America and the Caribbean and evaluate existing country-level MAYV surveillance mechanisms. Methods. Research was conducted from May 2018 through May 2019 to collect data from academic literature on Mayaro fever in Latin America and the Caribbean. PubMed, ClinicalKey, Scopus, Nature, SciELO, LILACS, and Google Scholar were searched for peer-reviewed journal articles, and data from health authorities, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and ministries of health, was also sought. MAYV-related publications published from 1954 through 2019 were screened. Publications that added to the overall understanding of MAYV, including its geographical and epidemiological distribution, were included in this report. Results. A total of 901 MAYV cases have been reported in humans in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since its discovery in 1954 in Trinidad and Tobago, MAYV has been isolated from individuals living in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Of those 901 cases, 42 of them were reported exclusively by health authorities. In contrast, 843 confirmed and presumptive autochthonous cases and an additional 16 imported cases were identified in academic literature. No country-level surveillance mechanisms for MAYV were recorded in academic literature or by health authorities. Conclusions. This report demonstrates that MAYV surveillance efforts are limited in comparison to the virus’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the importance of enhancing arboviral surveillance systems in the affected countries.

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Avaliação das Variantes Genéticas dos Genes AMELX e ENAM na Cárie Dentária em Adolescentes

Ensaios e Ciência C Biológicas Agrárias e da Saúde ◽

10.17921/1415-6938.2020v24n5-esp.p650-654 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (5-esp.) ◽

pp. 650-654

Author(s):

Gabriela Paschoalini Romagni ◽

Paula Marino Costa ◽

Sandra Mara Maciel ◽

Maria Paula Jacobucci ◽

Regina Célia Poli-Frederico

Keyword(s):

Genetic Component ◽

World Health ◽

Caries Experience ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Chi Square ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

Significance Level ◽

Exact Test ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Health Organization

A doença cárie é considerada, atualmente, como biofilme sacarose dependente, entretanto, estudos recentes apontam que fatores genéticos também podem influenciar seu desenvolvimento. Variantes nos gene amelogenina (AMELX) e enamelina (ENAM), responsáveis pela formação do esmalte, têm sido propostas como potencialmente envolvidos na doença. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar se a ocorrência de cárie dentária em adolescentes está relacionado às variantes nos genes AMELX e ENAM. Para a avaliação da prevalência de cárie foi utilizado o índice de dentes cariados, perdidos e obturados (CPO-D), segundo critérios da Organização Mundial de Saúde. As amostras de DNA foram extraídas das células da mucosa oral. Para a análise dos polimorfismos de nucleotídeo único (SNPs) dos genes AMELX (rs17878486) e ENAM (rs7671281) foi utilizada a técnica de amplificação de fragmentos de DNA pela reação em cadeia da polimerase foi realizada (PCR) em tempo real pelo sistema TaqMan (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, EUA). Para a análise estatística, foi utilizado o teste exato de Fisher e qui-quadrado com nível de significância de 5%. Apenas os fatores socioeconômicos influenciaram a experiência de cárie. Concluiu-se que o componente genético, na população deste estudo, não influenciou o desenvolvimento da cárie. Palavras-chave: Polimorfismo genético. Adolescentes. Esmalte. Abstract Caries disease is currently considered a sucrose-dependent biofilm, however recent studies indicate that a genetic component can also influence its development. Variants in the amelogenin (AMELX) and enamelin (ENAM) genes, responsible for the enamel formation, have been proposed as potentially involved in the disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the occurrence of dental caries in adolescents is related to variants in the AMELX and ENAM genes. To assess the caries prevalence, the index of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) were used, according to World Health Organization criteria. DNA samples were extracted from oral mucosa cells. For the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the AMELX (rs17878486) and ENAM (rs7671281) genes, the amplifying DNA fragments technique by the polymerase chain reaction was performed (PCR) in real time by the TaqMan system (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, USA). For the statistical analysis, Fisher's exact test and chi-square were used with a 5% significance level. Only socioeconomic factors influenced the caries experience. It was concluded that the genetic component in the population of this study, did not influence the development of caries. Keywords: Genetic polymorphism. Adolescents. Enamel.

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Australian National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory annual report, 2017

Communicable Diseases Intelligence ◽

10.33321/cdi.2020.44.32 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

Author(s):

Jason A Roberts ◽

Linda K Hobday ◽

Aishah Ibrahim ◽

Bruce R Thorley

Keyword(s):

Surveillance System ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Performance Criterion ◽

World Health ◽

Reference Laboratory ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Disease Surveillance System ◽

Enterovirus A71 ◽

Clinical Surveillance ◽

Health Organization

Australia monitors its polio-free status by conducting surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children less than 15 years of age, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases of AFP in children are notified to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit or the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance System and faecal specimens are referred for virological investigation to the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory. In 2017, no cases of poliomyelitis were reported from clinical surveillance and Australia reported 1.33 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children, meeting the WHO performance criterion for a sensitive surveillance system. Three non-polio enteroviruses, coxsackievirus B1, echovirus 11 and enterovirus A71, were identified from clinical specimens collected from AFP cases. Australia established enterovirus and environmental surveillance systems to complement the clinical system focussed on children and an ambiguous vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was isolated from sewage in Melbourne. In 2017, 22 cases of wild polio were reported with three countries remaining endemic: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

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Establishment of the South Korean national antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, Kor-GLASS, in 2016

Eurosurveillance ◽

10.2807/1560-7917.es.2018.23.42.1700734 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (42) ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Hyukmin Lee ◽

Eun-Jeong Yoon ◽

Dokyun Kim ◽

Seok Hoon Jeong ◽

Jong Hee Shin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Antimicrobial Resistance ◽

Surveillance System ◽

Action Plan ◽

World Health ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

The South ◽

South Korean ◽

Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance ◽

The Status ◽

Health Organization

Surveillance plays a pivotal role in overcoming antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens, and a variety of surveillance systems have been set up and employed in many countries. In 2015, the World Health Organization launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS) as a part of the global action plan to enhance national and global surveillance and research. The aims of GLASS are to foster development of national surveillance systems and to enable collection, analysis and sharing of standardised, comparable and validated data on AMR between different countries. The South Korean AMR surveillance system, Kor-GLASS, is compatible with the GLASS platform and was established in 2016 and based on the principles of representativeness, specialisation, harmonisation and localisation. In this report, we summarise principles and processes in order to share our experiences with other countries planning to establish a national AMR surveillance system. The pilot operation of Kor-GLASS allowed us to understand the national burden of specific infectious diseases and the status of bacterial AMR. Issues pertaining to high costs and labour-intensive operation were raised during the pilot, and improvements are being made.

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The Expression of miR-155-5p and Local Matrix Gla Protein in Meningiomas

Revista Romana de Medicina de Laborator ◽

10.2478/rrlm-2021-0020 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 299-306

Author(s):

Simona Roxana Gheorghe ◽

Cătălin Marian ◽

Ligia Gabriela Tătăranu ◽

Anica Dricu ◽

Cees Vermeer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Messenger Rna ◽

Molecular Classification ◽

Micro Rna ◽

Matrix Gla Protein ◽

World Health ◽

Ectopic Calcification ◽

Chain Reaction ◽

The World ◽

Polymerase Chain ◽

Health Organization

Abstract Meningiomas are classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) in three grades, based on morphological features. Independent of this grading, the presence of calcification in meningiomas influences their growth rate. The messenger RNA of matrix Gla protein (MGP), an extra-hepatic protein with different conformations involved in the homeostasis of ectopic calcification has been found in meningiomas and was shown to be regulated in breast cancer by miR-155-5p, a specific micro RNA. Therefore, we investigated the expression of miR-155-5p and its relationship with local MGP conformations in different grade meningiomas. According to the WHO classification, our 41 samples of meningiomas were stratified in groups WHO I and WHO II. Using real time polymerase chain reaction, we observed a higher miR-155-5p expression in group WHO I versus group WHO II [with a fold change (FC) of 3.83, p=0.027)]. Moreover, the expression of miR-155-5p was higher in calcified tumors compared to non-calcified tumors in all samples (FC=3.01, p=0.047) and in group WHO I (FC=3.65, p=0.048). Utilizing immunohistochemistry, we determined the concurrent presence of all MGP conformations in calcified meningiomas. This study was the first to establish higher miR-155-5p expression in grade WHO I and calcified meningiomas, which could improve molecular classification and targeted therapy and also the presence of all MGP conformations in calcified meningiomas, confirming the existence of an anti-calcification mechanism in meningiomas..

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Pathways to clean hands: highlights of successful hand hygiene implementation strategies in Europe

Eurosurveillance ◽

10.2807/ese.15.18.19560-en ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 15 (18) ◽

Author(s):

A P Magiorakos ◽

E Leens ◽

V Drouvot ◽

L May-Michelangeli ◽

C Reichardt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hand Hygiene ◽

Implementation Strategies ◽

World Health ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

The European Union ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Governmental Support ◽

Hygiene Compliance ◽

Health Organization ◽

Healthcare Associated

Hand hygiene is the most effective way to stop the spread of microorganisms and to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The World Health Organization launched the First Global Patient Safety Challenge - Clean Care is Safer Care - in 2005 with the goal to prevent HAI globally. This year, on 5 May, the WHO’s initiative SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands, which focuses on increasing awareness of and improving compliance with hand hygiene practices, celebrated its second global day. In this article, four Member States of the European Union describe strategies that were implemented as part of their national hand hygiene campaigns and were found to be noteworthy. The strategies were: governmental support, the use of indicators for hand hygiene benchmarking, developing national surveillance systems for auditing alcohol-based hand rub consumption, ensuring seamless coordination of processes between health regions in countries with regionalised healthcare systems, implementing the WHO's My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene, and auditing of hand hygiene compliance.

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