scholarly journals On the relative role of different age groups during epidemics associated with the respiratory syncytial virus

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Goldstein ◽  
H. H. Nguyen ◽  
P. Liu ◽  
C. Viboud ◽  
C.A. Steiner ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundWhile RSV circulation results in high burden of hospitalization, particularly among infants, young children and the elderly, little is known about the role of different age groups in propagating annual RSV epidemics in the community.MethodsDuring a communicable disease outbreak, some subpopulations may play a disproportionate role during the outbreak's ascent due to increased susceptibility and/or contact rates. Such subpopulations can be identified by considering the proportion that cases in a subpopulation represent among all cases in the population occurring before (Bp) and after the epidemic peak (Ap) to calculate the subpopulation's relative risk, RR=Bp/Ap. We estimated RR for several age groups using data on RSV hospitalizations in the US between 2001-2012 from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP).ResultsChildren aged 3-4y and 5-6y each had the highest RR estimate for 5/11 seasons in the data, with RSV hospitalization rates in infants being generally higher during seasons when children aged 5-6y had the highest RR estimates. Children aged 2y had the highest RR estimate during one season. RR estimates in infants and individuals aged 11y and older were mostly lower than in children aged 1-10y.ConclusionsThe RR estimates suggest that preschool and young school-age children have the leading relative roles during RSV epidemics. We hope that those results will aid in the design of RSV vaccination policies.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Goldstein

AbstractBackgroundThere is limited information about the role of different age groups, particularly subgroups of school-age children and younger adults in propagating influenza epidemics.MethodsFor a communicable disease outbreak, some subpopulations may play a disproportionate role during the ascent of the outbreak due to increased susceptibility and/or contact rates. Such subpopulations can be identified by considering the proportion that cases in a subpopulation represent among all cases in the population occurring before the epidemic peak (Bp), the corresponding proportion after the epidemic peak (Ap), to calculate the relative risk for a subpopulation, RR=Bp/Ap. We estimated RR for several age groups using data on reported influenza A cases in Germany between 2002-2017.ResultsChildren aged 14-17y had the highest RR estimates for 7 out of 15 influenza A epidemics in the data, including the 2009 pandemic, and the large 2016/17, 2008/09, and 2006/07 seasons. Children aged 10-13y had the highest RR estimates during 3 epidemics, including the large 2014/15 and 2004/05 seasons. Children aged 6-9y had the highest RR estimates during two epidemics, including the large 2012/13 season. Children aged 2-5y had the highest RR estimate during the moderate 2015/16 season; adults aged 18-24y had the highest RR estimate during the small 2005/06 season; adults aged 25-34y had the highest RR estimate during the large, 2002/03 season.ConclusionsOur results support the prominent role of all school-age children, particularly the oldest ones, in propagating influenza epidemics in the community. We note that national vaccination coverage levels among older school-age children were lower than among younger school-age children during the recent influenza seasons in the US, and influenza vaccination program in England has not been phased in yet for secondary school students.


2017 ◽  
Vol 217 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Goldstein ◽  
Hieu H Nguyen ◽  
Patrick Liu ◽  
Cecile Viboud ◽  
Claudia A Steiner ◽  
...  

2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. KHAN ◽  
O. J. RIDER ◽  
C. U. JAYADEV ◽  
C. HERAS-PALOU ◽  
H. GIELE ◽  
...  

We compared the incidence of significant Dupuytren’s disease in men across occupational social classes in England and Wales, using data from the National Morbidity Survey. We found that manual occupational social class was not associated with an increased incidence of Dupuytren’s disease. In fact, the incidence rates of Dupuytren’s disease in the elderly were higher in non-manual than in manual social classes.


2002 ◽  
Vol 227 (9) ◽  
pp. 799-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer J. Curtis ◽  
Martin G. Ottolini ◽  
David D. Porter ◽  
Gregory A. Prince

Despite the documented disease burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the elderly, little is known about the underlying risk factors or pathogenesis of RSV in a geriatric population. This report describes an age-dependent change of RSV clearance in the lung and nose of the cotton rat. Six days postinfection with RSV, lung and nose viral titers were significantly higher in all older age groups as compared with 4- to 6-week old cotton rats (P < 0.05). When comparing the 4- to 6-week old animals to the 15- to 16-month old animals 6 days postinfection, there was over an 800- and 100-fold increase in lung and nose viral titers, respectively. The cotton rat may prove to be a useful model in eliciting mechanisms of severe RSV disease in the elderly.


2002 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. H. KYAW ◽  
S. CLARKE ◽  
I. G. JONES ◽  
H. CAMPBELL

A review of the epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease in Scotland was carried out using data from laboratory-based systems during the period 1988–99. This comprised 5456 (90·8%) isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae from blood, 467 (7·8%) from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and 84 (1·4%) from other sterile sites. The mean annual incidence of invasive disease was 9·8/105 population (9·0/105 for bacteraemia and 0·8/105 for meningitis). Invasive disease was highest in children <2 years of age and in the elderly [ges ]65 years (44·9/105 and 28·4/105 population in these age groups respectively). The highest incidence of pneumococcal meningitis, 11·8/105 persons occurred in children <2 years of age. Males had a higher incidence of pneumococcal bacteraemia and meningitis than females (male[ratio ]female = 1·2[ratio ]1 for bacteraemia (RR = 1·17, 95% CI 1·11, 1·24) and 1·5[ratio ]1 for meningitis (RR = 1·41, 95% CI 1·18, 1·70)). Pneumococcal disease was highest in winter periods and coincided with influenza activity. The proportion of penicillin and erythromycin non-susceptible isolates increased from 4·2% in 1992 to 12·6% in 1999 and from 5·6% in 1994 to 16·3% in 1999 respectively. Our data confirm the substantial and increasing disease burden from pneumococcal disease and rise in prevalence of antibiotic non-susceptibility among pneumococci in Scotland. Continued surveillance of groups at increased risk for pneumococcal disease and the antibiotic susceptibility and serotype distribution of isolates are important to develop appropriate policies for the prevention of pneumococcal disease in Scotland.


2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (12) ◽  
pp. 1684-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. TERROSI ◽  
G. Di GENOVA ◽  
B. MARTORELLI ◽  
M. VALENTINI ◽  
M. G. CUSI

SUMMARYRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been demonstrated to cause substantial disease in elderly and immunocompromised subjects. The relationship of serum antibody to RSV infection and the risk of infection in elderly subjects is controversial, thus we evaluated the presence of neutralizing antibodies to RSV in healthy people of different age groups and the correlation with viral protection. Baseline blood samples from 197 subjects aged 20–80 years were analysed for the presence of anti-RSV antibodies either by indirect immunofluorescence and microneutralization test. The percentage of people who had neutralizing antibodies to RSV was significantly higher (P=0·001) in the youngest group (92·51%) compared to the frail group (36·21%). The RSV antibody level tends to wane in some older people; this factor could determine proneness to RSV re-infections in the elderly who are at a greater risk of developing severe respiratory disease.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0260335
Author(s):  
Zhanxing Li ◽  
Xiaoli Ni ◽  
Liqi Zhu ◽  
Jing Li

First possession is a common heuristic people use to solve property conflicts. Previous studies examined whether young children judged ownership based on the first possession heuristic and its stability when conflicting with other cues such as labor, but few focused on the effects in the discovery context. In this study, we used two discovery stories which indicate the discovered object was not owned by anyone beforehand and investigated ownership reasoning with the first possession heuristic in Chinese 3- to 6-year-old preschoolers. By pitting the first possession cue against the labor cue, we investigated the stability of the first possession heuristic in young children’s ownership reasoning. The results showed that in the condition where there was only the first possession cue, both the younger and older groups used the first possession heuristic to reason about ownership. However, in the labor condition, 5- and 6-year-olds ceased to support the first possessor and turned to assign objects to the laborer, whereas 3-year-old children still insisted on the first possession heuristic (Study 1 and Study 2). Children across four age groups did not assign ownership to the person who just played with the object but did not modify it (Study 2). The results demonstrate that Chinese preschoolers understand the role of first possession in ownership assignment at an early age in the discovery context but the elderly preschoolers do not rely on the first possession cue when there are conflicting cues such as labor.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achim Dörre ◽  
Gabriele Doblhammer

BackgroundRecent research points towards age- and sex-specific transmission of COVID-19 infections and their outcomes. The effect of sex, however, has been overlooked in past modelling approaches of COVID-19 infections.AimThe aim of our study is to develop an age- and sex-specific model of COVID-19 transmission and to explore how contact changes effect COVID-19 infection and death rates.MethodWe consider a compartment model to establish forecasts of the COVID-19 epidemic, in which the compartments are subdivided into different age groups and genders. Estimated contact patterns, based on other studies, are incorporated to account for age- and sex-specific social behaviour. The model is fitted to real data and used for assessing hypothetical scenarios with regard to lockdown measures.ResultsUnder current mitigation measures as of mid-August, active COVID-19 cases will double by the end of October 2020. Infection rates will be highest among the young and working ages, but will also rise among the old. Sex ratios reveal higher infection risks among women than men at working ages; the opposite holds true at old age. Death rates in all age groups are twice as high among men as women. Small changes in contact rates at working and young ages may have a considerable effect on infections and mortality at old age, with elderly men being always at higher risk of infection and mortality.DiscussionOur results underline the high importance of the non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures in low-infection phases of the pandemic to prevent that an increase in contact rates leads to higher mortality among the elderly. Gender differences in contact rates, in addition to biological mechanisms related to the immune system, may contribute to sex-specific infection rates and their mortality outcome. To further explore possible pathways, more data on COVID-19 transmission is needed which includes socio-demographic information.


2003 ◽  
Vol os10 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Graham Gilmour ◽  
Claire L Morgan

It is predicted that geriatric patients will dramatically increase in number within our working lives. Although they are considered to demand treatment less frequently than the younger age groups, there are specific issues that need to be considered when providing dental treatment for these patients. The term gerodontics has been coined to describe this subject. The need to consider family relationships and the role of carers may play a greater part in their dental management than that of the general population. As well as oral disease, the incidence of general disease is higher in this population, as is the amount of medication prescribed to treat it; these factors often complicate dental management. Special problems that will have a high dental impact on the geriatric patient may be lack of adaptive potential, poor plaque control, root caries, periodontal breakdown and levels of toothwear.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 2050-2057 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Matthews ◽  
John S. Tregoning ◽  
Anthony J. Coyle ◽  
Tracy Hussell ◽  
Peter J. M. Openshaw

ABSTRACT Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major viral pathogen of infants and the elderly. Significant morbidity is caused by an overexuberant mixed lung cell infiltrate, which is thought to be driven by chemokines. One of the main chemotactic mediators responsible for the movement of eosinophils is CCL11 (eotaxin). Using a mouse model of eosinophilic bronchiolitis induced by RSV, we show here that treatment in vivo with a blocking antibody to CCL11 greatly reduces lung eosinophilia and disease severity. In addition, anti-CCL11 caused a striking inhibition of CD4-T-cell influx and shifted cytokine production away from interleukin-5 without reducing the resistance to viral replication. These results suggest that in addition to influencing eosinophil diapedesis and survival, anti-CCL11 has an action on T cells. These studies strengthen the case for anti-CCL11 treatment of Th2-driven diseases.


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