scholarly journals Negative Excess Mortality in Pneumonia Death caused by COVID-19 in Japan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junko Kurita ◽  
Tamie Sugawara ◽  
Yoshiyuki Sugishita ◽  
Yasushi Ohkusa
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Excess Mortality ◽  
Pneumococcal Vaccination ◽  
Infection Risk ◽  
Estimation Model

AbstractBackgroundSince the emergence of COVID-19, cases of excess mortality from all causes have been very few in Japan.ObjectTo evaluate COVID-19 effects precisely, we specifically examine deaths caused by pneumonia and examine excess mortality attributable to pneumonia in Japan.MethodWe applied the NIID model to pneumonia deaths from 2005 up through September, 2020 for the whole of Japan. Introduction of routine pneumococcal vaccination for elderly people and revision in ICD10 were incorporated into the estimation model.ResultsNo excess mortality was found for 2020. However, negative excess mortality was observed as 178 in May, 314 in June, and 75 in July.Discussion and ConclusionSignificantly negative excess mortality might reflect precautions taken by people including wearing masks, washing hands with alcohol, and maintaining social distance. They reduced the infection risk not only of for COVID-19 but also of other infectious diseases causing pneumonia.

scholarly journals Excess Mortality Probably Attributable to COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan During August and October 2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 890-894
Author(s):  
Junko Kurita ◽  
Tamie Sugawara ◽  
Yasushi Ohkusa ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Excess Mortality ◽  
Careful Monitoring ◽  
Model Method ◽  
Considerable Excess

Background: By March, 2021, the COVID-19 outbreak had reached its highest peak at the end of December, 2020. Nevertheless, no remarkable excess mortality attributable to COVID-19 has been observed. Object: We sought to quantify excess mortality in April using the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) model. Method: We applied the NIID model to deaths of all causes from 1987 through February, 2021 for all of Japan and through October for Tokyo. Results: Results obtained for Japan show very few excess mortality cases in August and October, 2020, estimated respectively as 12 and 104. However, in Tokyo, 595 cases of excess mortality were detected during August and October: they were, respectively, 3.1% and 1.7% of baseline numbers. Discussion and Conclusion: We detected considerable excess mortality in Tokyo but not throughout Japan. Continued careful monitoring of excess mortality of COVID-19 is expected to be important.

Contagion

2020 ◽  
pp. 72-95
Author(s):  
Mark Davis ◽  
Davina Lohm
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
The Social

Contagion is an age-old method of signifying infectious diseases like influenza and is a rich metaphor with strong biopolitical connotations for understandings of social distance, that is, the self as distinct from the other in the sense of space and identity. Contagion is therefore an important metaphor for the social distancing approaches recommended by experts during a pandemic, as was the case in 2009. This chapter, therefore, examines how research participants enacted social distancing as a method for reducing risk. It reflects on how these narratives reflected the meanings of contagion linked with distance, in particular, the notion that threat emerges elsewhere and in the figure of the other.

scholarly journals Update on the “Choosing Wisely” initiative in infectious diseases in Germany

Infection ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-321
Author(s):  
Rika Draenert ◽  
◽  
Norma Jung
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Immune Suppression ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Pneumococcal Vaccination ◽  
German Society ◽  
Blood Cultures ◽  
Choosing Wisely ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Advanced Liver Cirrhosis ◽  
Severe Infections

Abstract Purpose The Choosing Wisely® initiative is an international campaign addressing over- and underuse of diagnostic and therapeutic measures in infectious diseases among others. Since 2016, the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI) has constantly designed new items in this regard. Here we report the most recent recommendations. Methods The recommendations of the DGI are part of the “Klug entscheiden” initiative of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM). Topics for the new items were suggested by members of the DGI, checked for scientific evidence and consented within the DGI and the DGIM before publication. Results The new recommendations are: (1) individuals with immune-suppression, advanced liver cirrhosis or renal insufficiency should receive a dual pneumococcal vaccination. (2) In case of positive blood cultures with Candida spp. thorough diagnostics and treatment should be initiated. (3) In case of suspected meningitis, adult patients should receive dexamethasone and antibiotics immediately after venipuncture for blood cultures and before potential imaging. (4) In case of suspected meningitis a CT scan before lumbar puncture should not be ordered—except for symptoms indicating high CSF pressure or focal brain pathology or in cases of severe immune-suppression. (5) In patients with suspected severe infections, a minimum of two pairs of blood cultures should be drawn using separate venipunctures prior to antibiotic therapy—regardless of body temperature. There is no need of a minimum time interval in between the blood draws. Conclusion Applying these new Choosing Wisely® recommendations will increase patient safety and the value of health care.

scholarly journals Infection risk in elderly people with reduced glycaemic control

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P McGovern ◽  
Julia Hine ◽  
Simon de Lusignan
Keyword(s):  
Glycaemic Control ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Infection Risk

scholarly journals Amphibian Collapses Exacerbated Malaria Outbreaks in Central America

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Springborn ◽  
Joakim A. Weill ◽  
Karen R. Lips ◽  
Roberto Ibáñez ◽  
Aniruddha Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Central America ◽  
Fungal Pathogen ◽  
Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis ◽  
Malaria Incidence ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Natural Food ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Human Welfare

AbstractEcosystems play an important role in supporting human welfare, including regulating the transmission of infectious diseases. Many of these services are not fully-appreciated due to complex environmental dynamics and lack of baseline data. Multicontinental amphibian decline due to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) provides a stark example. Even though amphibians are known to affect natural food webs—including mosquitoes that transmit human diseases—the human health impacts connected to their massive decline have received little attention. Here we show a causal link between a wave of Bd-driven collapse of amphibians in Central America and increased human malaria incidence. At the canton-level in Costa Rica and district-level in Panama, expected malaria incidence increased for eight years subsequent to amphibian losses, peaking at an additional 1.0 cases per 1,000 population (CPK). The increase is substantial in comparison to annual incidence levels from outbreaks in these countries, which peaked at 1.1-1.5 CPK during our period of study from 1976-2016. This pattern holds across multiple alternative approaches to the estimation model. This previously unidentified impact of biodiversity loss illustrates the often hidden human welfare costs of conservation failures. These findings also show the importance of mitigating international trade-driven spread of similar emergent pathogens like Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans.Significance StatementDespite substantial multicontinental collapses in amphibian populations from spread of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the implications for humans have not been systematically studied. Amphibians are known to affect food webs, including mosquitoes that serve as a vector for the spread of disease. However, little is known about how their loss erodes ecosystem services, including the regulation of the transmission of infectious diseases. Using Central America as a case study, this study shows that Bd-driven amphibian loss led to a substantial increase in malaria incidence. The results highlight the often underappreciated social costs of biodiversity loss, including the potential stakes of ecosystem disruption from failing to stop spread of future novel pathogens.

scholarly journals Excess Mortality in Suicide caused by COVID-19 in Japan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junko Kurita ◽  
Tamie Sugawara ◽  
Yoshiyuki Sugishita ◽  
Yasushi Ohkusa
Keyword(s):  
Economic Activity ◽  
Excess Mortality ◽  
Great Earthquake ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Significant Excess ◽  
Human Stress ◽  
Eastern Japan

AbstractBackgroundCountermeasures against COVID-19 outbreak such as lockdown and voluntary restrictions against going out adversely affect human stress and economic activity. Particularly, this stress might lead to suicide.ObjectWe examined excess mortality attributable to suicide caused by COVID-19.MethodWe applied the NIID model to suicide deaths from October 2009 through November, 2020 for the whole of Japan for both genders. Effects of the great earthquake that struck in eastern Japan on March 11, 2011 were incorporated into the estimation model.ResultsSignificant excess mortality in suicide was found between July and November in 2020 for both genders. It was greater among females than among males. In total, 1599 excess cases of mortality were identified.Discussion and ConclusionExcess mortality during the four months was more than two times greater than the number of COVID-19 deaths confirmed by PCR testing. Countermeasures against COVID-19 should be chosen carefully in light of suicide effects.

Tick-Borne Infections

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Wilson ◽  
Lynn L. Estes
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Geographic Distribution ◽  
Infection Risk ◽  
Human Diseases ◽  
Numerous Species ◽  
Hard Ticks ◽  
Protozoan Infection

Numerous species of ticks have been associated with transmission of infectious diseases to humans. Recognizing the type of tick and its geographic distribution can aid identification of select bacterial, viral, and protozoan infection risk assessment.• Consists of the hard ticks that transmit nearly all tick-borne human diseases; 2–30 mm...

scholarly journals Influenza mortality and excess deaths in the elderly, 1967–82

1989 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 633-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. W. Sprenger ◽  
M. A. M. G. Van Naelten ◽  
P. G. H. Mulder ◽  
N Masurel
Keyword(s):  
Regression Model ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Poisson Distribution ◽  
Lung Diseases ◽  
Excess Mortality ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Excess Deaths

SUMMARYThis study assessed the influence of influenza on mortality from heart and lung diseases in people over 70 years of age. The data used were obtained from the Dutch Bureau of Statistics. With a regression model, the observed monthly mortality from heart and lung diseases (influenza not included) in people over 70 years is explained with a yearly variable, a monthly variable and the overall monthly number of influenza mortality cases, assuming that monthly mortality has a Poisson distribution. The monthly excess mortality from heart and lung diseases (influenza not included) due to influenza among elderly people (> 70 years) is estimated.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document