scholarly journals Viability ofBacillus licheniformisandBacillus thuringiensisSpores as a Model for Predicting the Fate ofBacillus anthracisSpores during Composting of Dead Livestock

2010 ◽  
Vol 77 (5) ◽  
pp. 1588-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Reuter ◽  
Trevor W. Alexander ◽  
Tim A. McAllister
Keyword(s):  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Temperature Profiles ◽  
The West ◽  
Spore Viability ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Complete Inactivation ◽  
Spore Forming Bacteria ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTSafe disposal of dead livestock and contaminated manure is essential for the effective control of infectious disease outbreaks. Composting has been shown to be an effective method of disposal, but no information exists on its ability to contain diseases caused by spore-forming bacteria, such asBacillus anthracis. Duplicate composters (east and west), each containing 16 dead cattle, were constructed (final capacity, 85,000 kg). Spores (107CFU/g manure) ofBacillus licheniformisandBacillus thuringiensiswere mixed with autoclaved feedlot manure and placed in either sterile vials or porous nylon bags. Compost temperatures in the west composter were slightly higher than in the east composter. ViableB. thuringiensisspores were reduced to ≤102CFU in all samples after 112 days but were isolated from bags (west composter) at ≤102and at 105CFU (east composter) after 230 days. In contrast,B. licheniformiswas at ≤102CFU in vials (west composter) after 112 days but remained at 106CFU after 230 days (east composter). Similarly,B. licheniformisin bags was not detected after 230 days in the west composter but remained at 107CFU in the east composter. Our study suggests that spore viability was reduced in the west composter by exposure to compost and elevated temperatures over time. Different temperature profiles may explain why spores remained viable in the east structure but were largely rendered nonviable in the west structure. Under practical conditions, variation in composting microclimates may preclude the complete inactivation ofBacillusspores, including those ofB. anthracis, during composting. However, composting may still have merit as a method of biocontainment, reducing and diluting the transfer of infectious spores into the environment.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal patterns of the COVID-19 epidemic in Mexico at the municipality level

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12685
Author(s):  
Jean-François Mas ◽  
Azucena Pérez-Vega
Keyword(s):  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
World Health ◽  
Medical Systems ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Massive Growth ◽  
Spatial Scan ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Over Time

In recent history, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the worst infectious disease outbreaks affecting humanity. The World Health Organization has defined the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic, and the massive growth of the number of infected cases in a short time has caused enormous pressure on medical systems. Mexico surpassed 3.7 million confirmed infections and 285,000 deaths on October 23, 2021. We analysed the spatio-temporal patterns of the COVID-19 epidemic in Mexico using the georeferenced confirmed cases aggregated at the municipality level. We computed weekly Moran’s I index to assess spatial autocorrelation over time and identify clusters of the disease using the “flexibly shaped spatial scan” approach. Finally, we compared Euclidean, cost, resistance distances and gravitational model to select the best-suited approach to predict inter-municipality contagion. We found that COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is characterised by clusters evolving in space and time as parallel epidemics. The gravitational distance was the best model to predict newly infected municipalities though the predictive power was relatively low and varied over time. This study helps us understand the spread of the epidemic over the Mexican territory and gives insights to model and predict the epidemic behaviour.

scholarly journals Cost-Effective Control of Infectious Disease Outbreaks Accounting for Societal Reaction

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e0136059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon M. Fast ◽  
Marta C. González ◽  
Natasha Markuzon
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Societal Reaction

scholarly journals What is the best control strategy for multiple infectious disease outbreaks?

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1611) ◽  
pp. 833-837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Handel ◽  
Ira M Longini ◽  
Rustom Antia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Control Strategy ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Intervention Measures ◽  
Travel Restrictions ◽  
Public Health Goal

Effective control of infectious disease outbreaks is an important public health goal. In a number of recent studies, it has been shown how different intervention measures like travel restrictions, school closures, treatment and prophylaxis might allow us to control outbreaks of diseases, such as SARS, pandemic influenza and others. In these studies, control of a single outbreak is considered. It is, however, not clear how one should handle a situation where multiple outbreaks are likely to occur. Here, we identify the best control strategy for such a situation. We further discuss ways in which such a strategy can be implemented to achieve additional public health objectives.

Survivability of Salmonella and Shigella spp. in Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Tween 80 at 22 and 40°C

2003 ◽  
Vol 66 (8) ◽  
pp. 1462-1464 ◽  
Author(s):  
RENEE M. RAIDEN ◽  
JOEMEL M. QUICHO ◽  
CORYELL J. MAXFIELD ◽  
SUSAN S. SUMNER ◽  
JOSEPH D. EIFERT ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Tween 80 ◽  
Lauryl Sulfate ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
All Solutions ◽  
Shigella Spp ◽  
Over Time

Fresh produce has been implicated in several foodborne disease outbreaks. A primary site of contamination during production and handling is the surface of produce. One approach to reducing contamination is to treat fresh produce with rinsing agents. Studies have examined the efficacies of detergents and other rinses in recovering pathogens from produce surfaces. The determination of how these detergents affect bacterial cells may aid in understanding the mechanisms behind their removal. This study examines the survivability of Salmonella and Shigella in two detergents. A 0.1% sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) solution, a 0.1% Tween 80 solution, and water were inoculated with a cocktail of stationary-phase organisms (3 log CFU/ml) and incubated for up to 32 h at 22°C and 40°C. Samples were taken over time and plated on tryptic soy agar supplemented with 50 ppm of nalidixic acid. Salmonella survived in all solutions and exhibited significant growth in water (0.8 log CFU/ml at 22°C and 1.9 log CFU/ml at 40°C) and Tween 80 (1.0 log CFU/ml at 40°C). Shigella survived in all solutions at 22°C and exhibited a growth level of 2.0 log CFU/ml in SLS. Shigella also survived in all solutions at 40°C, although its populations decreased significantly in Tween 80 over time. Elevated temperatures may allow Tween 80 to kill Shigella spp. over time. Overall, the detergents tested were not detrimental to the cells; therefore, if these solutions were to be used as produce rinse agents, they would aid in removal of organisms from surfaces rather than kill the cells.

scholarly journals Key data for outbreak evaluation: building on the Ebola experience

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1721) ◽  
pp. 20160371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Cori ◽  
Christl A. Donnelly ◽  
Ilaria Dorigatti ◽  
Neil M. Ferguson ◽  
Christophe Fraser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Population Level ◽  
West African ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The West ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Exposure Data ◽  
Level Data

Following the detection of an infectious disease outbreak, rapid epidemiological assessment is critical for guiding an effective public health response. To understand the transmission dynamics and potential impact of an outbreak, several types of data are necessary. Here we build on experience gained in the West African Ebola epidemic and prior emerging infectious disease outbreaks to set out a checklist of data needed to: (1) quantify severity and transmissibility; (2) characterize heterogeneities in transmission and their determinants; and (3) assess the effectiveness of different interventions. We differentiate data needs into individual-level data (e.g. a detailed list of reported cases), exposure data (e.g. identifying where/how cases may have been infected) and population-level data (e.g. size/demographics of the population(s) affected and when/where interventions were implemented). A remarkable amount of individual-level and exposure data was collected during the West African Ebola epidemic, which allowed the assessment of (1) and (2). However, gaps in population-level data (particularly around which interventions were applied when and where) posed challenges to the assessment of (3). Here we highlight recurrent data issues, give practical suggestions for addressing these issues and discuss priorities for improvements in data collection in future outbreaks. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The 2013–2016 West African Ebola epidemic: data, decision-making and disease control’.

scholarly journals Addressing Disease-Related Stigma During Infectious Disease Outbreaks

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 989-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah S. Fischer ◽  
Gordon Mansergh ◽  
Jonathan Lynch ◽  
Scott Santibanez
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Zika Virus ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Ebola Virus Disease ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Influenza A H1n1 ◽  
Related Stigma

ABSTRACTOutbreaks of emerging infectious disease are a constant threat. In the last 10 years, there have been outbreaks of 2009 influenza A (H1N1), Ebola virus disease, and Zika virus. Stigma associated with infectious disease can be a barrier to adopting healthy behaviors, leading to more severe health problems, ongoing disease transmission, and difficulty controlling infectious disease outbreaks. Much has been learned about infectious disease and stigma in the context of nearly 4 decades of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome pandemic. In this paper, we define stigma, discuss its relevance to infectious disease outbreaks, including how individuals and communities can be affected. Adapting lessons learned from the rich literature on HIV-related stigma, we propose a strategy for reducing stigma during infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola virus disease and Zika virus. The implementation of brief, practical strategies such as the ones proposed here might help reduce stigma and facilitate more effective control of emerging infectious diseases.

scholarly journals Ex Ante Knowledge for Infectious Disease Outbreaks: Introducing the Organizational Network Governance Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 319-349
Author(s):  
Jörg Raab ◽  
Patrick Kenis ◽  
Marleen Kraaij-Dirkzwager ◽  
Aura Timen
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Network Governance ◽  
The West ◽  
Organizational Network ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Response Network ◽  
Ex Ante

AbstractIn our paper we investigate to what extent ex ante knowledge about a response network can be made available in order to deal with a crisis such as an infectious disease outbreak. Outbreaks are almost by definition characterized by a lack of information and knowledge. We introduce the organizational network governance approach for producing information prior to an actual outbreak, which is useful in limiting a virus’s transmission and impact. By introducing two fictitious but realistic outbreak scenarios—the outbreak of the West Nile Virus (WNV) and the outbreak of a New Asian Coronavirus (NAC) in the Netherlands—we demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. We formulate recommendations how to use the generated information to strengthen the organizational context in order to limit a virus’s transmission and impact and how to further develop the organizational network governance approach. We also formulate recommendations for how to further develop the organizational network governance approach.

Rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks after flooding disasters: Epidemiology, management, and prevention

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Diaz, MD, DrPH
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Hemorrhagic Fever ◽  
The United States ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks

Objective: To alert clinicians to the climatic conditions that can precipitate outbreaks of the rodent-borne infectious diseases most often associated with flooding disasters, leptospirosis (LS), and the Hantavirus-caused diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS); to describe the epidemiology and presenting clinical manifestations and outcomes of these rodent-borne infectious diseases; and to recommend both prophylactic therapies and effective control and prevention strategies for rodent-borne infectious diseases.Design: Internet search engines, including Google®, Google Scholar®, Pub Med, Medline, and Ovid, were queried with the key words as search terms to examine the latest scientific articles on rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks in the United States and worldwide to describe the epidemiology and presenting clinical manifestations and outcomes of LS and Hantavirus outbreaks.Setting: Not applicable.Participants: Not applicable.Interventions: Not applicable.Main outcome measure: Rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks following heavy rainfall and flooding disasters.Results: Heavy rainfall encourages excessive wild grass seed production that supports increased outdoor rodent population densities; and flooding forces rodents from their burrows near water sources into the built environment and closer to humans. Conclusions: Healthcare providers should maintain high levels of suspicion for LS in patients developing febrile illnesses after contaminated freshwater exposures following heavy rainfall, flooding, and evenfreshwater recreational events; and for Hantavirus-caused infectious diseases in patients with hemorrhagic fevers that progress rapidly to respiratory or renal failure following rodent exposures.

scholarly journals Quantifying the hidden costs of imperfect detection for early detection surveillance

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1776) ◽  
pp. 20180261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Mastin ◽  
Frank van den Bosch ◽  
Femke van den Berg ◽  
Stephen R. Parnell
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Phytophthora Ramorum ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks

The global spread of pathogens poses an increasing threat to health, ecosystems and agriculture worldwide. As early detection of new incursions is key to effective control, new diagnostic tests that can detect pathogen presence shortly after initial infection hold great potential for detection of infection in individual hosts. However, these tests may be too expensive to be implemented at the sampling intensities required for early detection of a new epidemic at the population level. To evaluate the trade-off between earlier and/or more reliable detection and higher deployment costs, we need to consider the impacts of test performance, test cost and pathogen epidemiology. Regarding test performance, the period before new infections can be first detected and the probability of detecting them are of particular importance. We propose a generic framework that can be easily used to evaluate a variety of different detection methods and identify important characteristics of the pathogen and the detection method to consider when planning early detection surveillance. We demonstrate the application of our method using the plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum in the UK, and find that visual inspec-tion for this pathogen is a more cost-effective strategy for early detection surveillance than an early detection diagnostic test. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: epidemic forecasting and control’. This theme issue is linked with the earlier issue ‘Modelling infectious disease outbreaks in humans, animals and plants: approaches and important themes’.

Dengue surveillance by proxy: travellers as sentinels for outbreaks in the Pacific Islands

2013 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
pp. 2328-2334 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. LAU ◽  
P. WEINSTEIN ◽  
D. SLANEY
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Dengue Outbreaks ◽  
Arboviral Diseases ◽  
Global Systems

SUMMARYSensitive surveillance systems are crucial for effective control of infectious disease outbreaks, and regional surveillance could provide valuable data to supplement global systems, improve sensitivity and timeliness of reporting, or capture otherwise undetected outbreaks. In New Zealand (NZ), there are no endemic arboviral diseases in humans, and the majority of dengue cases are imported from neighbouring Pacific Islands where comprehensive surveillance systems are under development. From 1997 to 2009, 679 cases of dengue were reported in NZ (74·2% acquired from the Pacific Islands), and the patterns of reported incidence of dengue acquired from different islands closely reflected local reported incidence in those areas. NZ is therefore in a unique position to provide early alerts on dengue outbreaks in the Pacific Islands. Such a strategy would reduce disease burden in both the Pacific Islands and NZ, and provide a model for transnational collaboration in disease surveillance with regional as well as global benefits.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document