scholarly journals Increased PCR screening capacity using a multi-replicate pooling scheme

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Viehweger ◽  
F. Kühnl ◽  
C. Brandt ◽  
B. König ◽  
A. C. Rodloff
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Pcr Screening ◽  
Feasible Method ◽  
Test Sensitivity ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Large Populations ◽  
Effective Public Health

AbstractEffective public health response to viral outbreaks such as SARS-CoV-2 require reliable information about the spread of the infecting agent. Often real-time PCR screening of large populations is a feasible method to generate this information. Since test capacities are usually limited, pooling of test specimens is often necessary to increase screening capacity, provided that the test sensitivity is not significantly compromised. However, when a traditional pool is tested positive, all samples in the pool need individual retesting, which becomes ineffective at a higher proportion of positive samples. Here, we report a new pooling protocol that mitigates this problem by replicating samples across multiple pools. The resulting pool set allows the sample status to be resolved more often than with traditional pooling. At 2% prevalence and 20 samples per pool, our protocol increases screening capacity by factors of 5 and 2 compared to individual testing and traditional pooling, respectively. The corresponding software to layout and resolve samples is freely available under a BSD license (https://github.com/phiweger/clonepool).

scholarly journals Variola Virus-Specific Diagnostic Assays: Characterization, Sensitivity, and Specificity

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 1406-1410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley V. Kondas ◽  
Victoria A. Olson ◽  
Yu Li ◽  
Jason Abel ◽  
Miriam Laker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Variola Virus ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Diagnostic Assays ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Pcr Assays

A public health response relies upon rapid and reliable confirmation of disease by diagnostic assays. Here, we detail the design and validation of two variola virus-specific real-time PCR assays, since previous assays cross-reacted with newly identified cowpox viruses. The assay specificity must continually be reassessed as other closely related viruses are identified.

scholarly journals A collaborative multiyear, multimodel assessment of seasonal influenza forecasting in the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (8) ◽  
pp. 3146-3154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas G. Reich ◽  
Logan C. Brooks ◽  
Spencer J. Fox ◽  
Sasikiran Kandula ◽  
Craig J. McGowan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Forecast Accuracy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Public Health Decision ◽  
Health Decision Making ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Health Decision

Influenza infects an estimated 9–35 million individuals each year in the United States and is a contributing cause for between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths annually. Seasonal outbreaks of influenza are common in temperate regions of the world, with highest incidence typically occurring in colder and drier months of the year. Real-time forecasts of influenza transmission can inform public health response to outbreaks. We present the results of a multiinstitution collaborative effort to standardize the collection and evaluation of forecasting models for influenza in the United States for the 2010/2011 through 2016/2017 influenza seasons. For these seven seasons, we assembled weekly real-time forecasts of seven targets of public health interest from 22 different models. We compared forecast accuracy of each model relative to a historical baseline seasonal average. Across all regions of the United States, over half of the models showed consistently better performance than the historical baseline when forecasting incidence of influenza-like illness 1 wk, 2 wk, and 3 wk ahead of available data and when forecasting the timing and magnitude of the seasonal peak. In some regions, delays in data reporting were strongly and negatively associated with forecast accuracy. More timely reporting and an improved overall accessibility to novel and traditional data sources are needed to improve forecasting accuracy and its integration with real-time public health decision making.

The Neuroscience of Addiction

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Jay C. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Loss Of Self ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Effective Public Health ◽  
The Brain

Effective public health approaches to addressing the opioid crisis require an understanding of addiction as a health condition primarily involving the brain, rather than an individual’s series of ongoing “bad choices” or inherent criminal tendencies that ultimately lead to poor health outcomes. Addiction has been defined as “the most severe, chronic stage of substance-use disorder, in which there is a substantial loss of self-control, as indicated by compulsive drug taking despite the desire to stop taking the drug.” Whether addiction is viewed primarily as a “disease” or the outcome of experiential and environmental influences, chronic changes that occur in the brain of the person with addiction form the scientific basis of an effective public health response. Understanding the behavioral changes driven by addiction is vital since they have a profound impact on public safety, the criminal justice system, and public health. This chapter provides an overview of the changes that occur in the brain during development of addiction and how understanding these changes can improve public health practice and policy. It complements more complete clinical and basic science reviews of the neuroscience of addiction that have been recently published.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics and Response: Opinions and Perspectives from Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeleye Adeshakin ◽  
Oluwamuyiwa Ayanshina ◽  
Samuel Essien-Baidoo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Effective Public Health

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since its declaration as a pandemic by world health organization (WHO) has spread across the various continent with little known about the most effective public health response for containing and mitigating the transmission of the epidemic. It is important to state that some authors have published on the lessons learned from transmission and management of COVID-19 infection but only a few considered it from the Africa perspective. Despite the late arrival of the pandemic in Africa and the notion that the virus may not thrive because of the high temperature in the continent; today the narrative has changed with the number of infected patients increasing daily. Herein, the authors have shared their perspectives and opinions on the dynamics and response to COVID-19 from Africa context to create more awareness and approach in mitigating the spread of the virus should the continent becomes the epicenter of COVID-19.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document