Assessing Insecticide Resistance in Adult Mosquitoes: Perspectives on Current Methods

Mosquito insecticide resistance (IR) is a growing global issue that must be addressed to protect public health. Vector control programs (VCPs) should regularly monitor local mosquito populations for IR and plan control measures accordingly. In some cases, state/federal resources financially support this testing with expertise and/or training programs. Standardization of methods (eg, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bottle bioassay, World Health Organization tube testing, dose-mortality bioassay) for monitoring IR must be prioritized. One solution is regional hubs of IR monitoring at the state or other level. Training programs on methodology and interpretation of results should be developed and routinely offered to local VCPs conducting IR testing in mosquitoes. Here, current methods for assessing mosquito IR are discussed and insights into a variety of questions from VCPs are considered. It is critical that methods for IR monitoring and data interpretation are standardized through routine training, with the goal of evidence-driven decision making to improve control of mosquitoes and mosquito-borne disease.

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Introducing risk inequality metrics in tuberculosis policy development

10.1101/380865 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Gabriela M. Gomes ◽

Juliane F. Oliveira ◽

Adelmo Bertolde ◽

Tuan Anh Nguyen ◽

Ethel L. Maciel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Policy Development ◽

Data Interpretation ◽

World Health ◽

Individual Risk ◽

Control Programs ◽

Force Of Infection ◽

Cohort Selection ◽

National Tuberculosis ◽

Health Organization ◽

And Control

Global stakeholders including the World Health Organization rely on predictive models for developing strategies and setting targets for tuberculosis care and control programs. Failure to account for variation in individual risk leads to substantial biases that impair data interpretation and policy decisions1,2. Anticipated impediments to estimating heterogeneity for each parameter are discouraging despite considerable technical progress in recent years. Here we identify acquisition of infection as the single process where heterogeneity most fundamentally impacts model outputs, due to cohort selection imposed by dynamic forces of infection. Individuals with higher risk of acquiring infection are predominantly affected by the pathogen, leaving the unaffected pool with those whose intrinsic risk is lower. This causes susceptibility pools to attain average risks which are lower under higher forces of infection. Interventions that modify the force of infection change the strength of selection, and therefore alter average risks in the pools which feed further incidence. Inability to account for these dynamics is what makes homogenous models unsuitable. We introduce concrete metrics to approximate risk inequality in tuberculosis, demonstrate their utility in mathematical models, and pack the information into a risk inequality coefficient which can be calculated and reported by national tuberculosis programs for use in policy development and modeling.

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Public Health Law: The Values of Global Collaboration

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1111/j.1748-720x.2003.tb00742.x ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 31 (S4) ◽

pp. 30-32

Author(s):

Myongsei Sohn

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Control Measures ◽

World Health ◽

Director General ◽

Health Law ◽

Public Health Law ◽

Great Opportunity ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

American Society ◽

Health Organization

I would like to extend my appreciation to the planning committee of this outstanding conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics (ASLME) for allowing me to have this great opportunity to share my experience in teaching and studying medical and public health law and ethics with my U.S. colleagues. This morning, USA Today is reporting that Brundtland, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), finally declared that the aggressive control measures have stopped SARS. I think it is a special achievement on her part as she departs the WHO in less than two weeks. The new Director General of the WHO, JW Lee, is a close friend of mine.

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The need to harmonize insecticide resistance testing: methodology, intensity concentrations and molecular mechanisms evaluated in Aedes aegypti populations in Central America and Hispaniola

10.1101/2020.02.25.964270 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Ledoux ◽

Carolina Torres Gutierrez ◽

Neil F. Lobo ◽

Elizabeth Melany Murillo ◽

Silvia Pérez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aedes Aegypti ◽

Insecticide Resistance ◽

Disease Control ◽

World Health Organization ◽

Central America ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

World Health ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Health Organization ◽

Susceptibility Profiles

AbstractBackgroundThe Zika AIRS Project, a USAID-funded initiative worked across the Latin America and Caribbean regions from 2016 to 2019, as an emergency to contain the spread of the Zika virus. All entomological records in the target countries showed wide distribution and high abundance of Aedes aegypti populations, however the susceptibility profiles of these insects to insecticides commonly employed by vector control campaigns were in most cases incomplete or inexistent. In close collaboration with the Ministries of Health of individual countries, Zika-AIRS teams conducted insecticide susceptibility testing of an array of insecticides in A. aegypti populations of each country. Procedures applied met the standard international protocols instructed by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Methodology and main findingsThe insecticides tested were selected under categories such as pyrethroids, organophosphates and carbamate. Results showed A. aegypti populations displaying high and widely distributed resistance to all pyrethroids across countries, tolerance to organophosphates and full susceptibility to a carbamate. Key inconsistencies between testing methods are presented and discussed. Additionally, four kdr mutations were analyzed to detect molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance. The screening for kdr mutations suggested the widespread nature of V1016I mutation, linked to pyrethroid resistance in A. aegypti populations distributed and sampled in the above mentioned regions.Conclusions and perspectivesThis multi-country study contributes with updated information to the public health decision-makers across Central America and the Caribbean. This study provided training and established technical networks for more effective and sustainable insecticide surveillance programs. Most but not all records of insecticide resistance in A. aegypti were consistent between methodologies, thus inconsistent issues are discussed here to call for further improvement in procedures and convey more practical guidelines for surveillance teams in countries where Aedes-borne diseases are endemic.Author summaryAt the forefront of the fight against arboviruses transmission is the insecticide-based vector control. All countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region invest valuable resources from their limited budget to acquire and implement insecticide-based tools, with non-existent or weak insecticide resistance monitoring programs. Hence, the USAID-funded Zika AIRS Project (ZAP) collaborated with the Ministries of Health of multiple countries to update the profile of susceptibility to insecticides in Aedes aegypti populations. We found widespread resistance to pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides, which account to almost 100% of the products available to control adult mosquitoes. As we used both of World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standard methods, we found many similarities and some inconsistencies in the susceptibility profiles obtained for the very same vector populations. Additionally, we obtained insight on potential molecular mechanisms of resistance across the countries, finding the kdr mutation V1016I possibly involved in loss of susceptibility.This study is the biggest cross-country update of insecticide resistance for Aedes aegypti in years, and it should be used as evidence for improving the selection of insecticides in these countries and a call for further support to maintain insecticide resistance monitoring programs.

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Preventing Premature Weaning: Management Options for Common Lactation Conditions, Including OMT

Osteopathic Family Physician ◽

10.33181/12012 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 20-25

Author(s):

Denise Sackett ◽

Tala Dajani ◽

David Shoup ◽

Uzoma Ikonne

Keyword(s):

Postpartum Depression ◽

Family Physician ◽

Treatment Options ◽

World Health ◽

Management Options ◽

Pharmacological Management ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Lactational Mastitis ◽

One Year ◽

Health Organization

The benefits of breastfeeding are well established. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that mothers breastfeed infants for at least one year, but most children are not breastfed that long because of many factors. Breastfeeding mothers face many challenges to continued breastfeeding, including medical conditions that arise during this period, such as postpartum depression and lactational mastitis. Because of a perceived lack of consistent guidance on medication safety, it can be difficult for the family physician to treat these conditions while encouraging mothers to continue breastfeeding. The purpose of the current review is to summarize and clarify treatment options for the osteopathic family physician treating lactating mothers. We specifically focus on the pharmacological management of contraception, postpartum depression, and lactational mastitis.

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Characterizing the effectiveness of COVID-19 mitigation measures: A data-centric approach (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.21321 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Lukman Olagoke ◽

Ahmet E. Topcu

Keyword(s):

Control Measure ◽

Control Measures ◽

World Health ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Effective Control ◽

The World ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

And Performance ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Impact

BACKGROUND COVID-19 represents a serious threat to both national health and economic systems. To curb this pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a series of COVID-19 public safety guidelines. Different countries around the world initiated different measures in line with the WHO guidelines to mitigate and investigate the spread of COVID-19 in their territories. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these control measures using a data-centric approach. METHODS We begin with a simple text analysis of coronavirus-related articles and show that reports on similar outbreaks in the past strongly proposed similar control measures. This reaffirms the fact that these control measures are in order. Subsequently, we propose a simple performance statistic that quantifies general performance and performance under the different measures that were initiated. A density based clustering of based on performance statistic was carried out to group countries based on performance. RESULTS The performance statistic helps evaluate quantitatively the impact of COVID-19 control measures. Countries tend show variability in performance under different control measures. The performance statistic has negative correlation with cases of death which is a useful characteristics for COVID-19 control measure performance analysis. A web-based time-line visualization that enables comparison of performances and cases across continents and subregions is presented. CONCLUSIONS The performance metric is relevant for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 control measures. This can help caregivers and policymakers identify effective control measures and reduce cases of death due to COVID-19. The interactive web visualizer provides easily digested and quick feedback to augment decision-making processes in the COVID-19 response measures evaluation. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable

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Countries with delayed COVID-19 introduction – characteristics, drivers, gaps, and opportunities

Globalization and Health ◽

10.1186/s12992-021-00678-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Zheng Li ◽

Cynthia Jones ◽

Girum S. Ejigu ◽

Nisha George ◽

Amanda L. Geller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Geographic Location ◽

Control Measures ◽

World Health ◽

Small Island ◽

Influenza Surveillance ◽

Middle Income ◽

School Closing ◽

Travel Restrictions ◽

Potential Factors ◽

Health Organization

Abstract Background Three months after the first reported cases, COVID-19 had spread to nearly 90% of World Health Organization (WHO) member states and only 24 countries had not reported cases as of 30 March 2020. This analysis aimed to 1) assess characteristics, capability to detect and monitor COVID-19, and disease control measures in these 24 countries, 2) understand potential factors for the reported delayed COVID-19 introduction, and 3) identify gaps and opportunities for outbreak preparedness, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). We collected and analyzed publicly available information on country characteristics, COVID-19 testing, influenza surveillance, border measures, and preparedness activities in these countries. We also assessed the association between the temporal spread of COVID-19 in all countries with reported cases with globalization indicator and geographic location. Results Temporal spreading of COVID-19 was strongly associated with countries’ globalization indicator and geographic location. Most of the 24 countries with delayed COVID-19 introduction were LMICs; 88% were small island or landlocked developing countries. As of 30 March 2020, only 38% of these countries reported in-country COVID-19 testing capability, and 71% reported conducting influenza surveillance during the past year. All had implemented two or more border measures, (e.g., travel restrictions and border closures) and multiple preparedness activities (e.g., national preparedness plans and school closing). Conclusions Limited testing capacity suggests that most of the 24 delayed countries may have lacked the capability to detect and identify cases early through sentinel and case-based surveillance. Low global connectedness, geographic isolation, and border measures were common among these countries and may have contributed to the delayed introduction of COVID-19 into these countries. This paper contributes to identifying opportunities for pandemic preparedness, such as increasing disease detection, surveillance, and international collaborations. As the global situation continues to evolve, it is essential for countries to improve and prioritize their capacities to rapidly prevent, detect, and respond, not only for COVID-19, but also for future outbreaks.

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Public Health Control Measures in Response to Global Pandemics and Drug Resistance

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1111/jlme.12266 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 43 (S2) ◽

pp. 49-56

Author(s):

Polly J. Price

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

International Health ◽

Control Measures ◽

World Health ◽

Legal Authority ◽

List Type ◽

Resistant Disease ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Health Organization

These teaching materials explore the specific powers of governments to implement control measures in response to communicable disease, in two different contexts:The first context concerns global pandemic diseases. Relevant legal authority includes international law, World Health Organization governance and the International Health Regulations, and regulatory authority of nations.The second context is centered on U.S. law and concerns control measures for drug-resistant disease, using tuberculosis as an example. In both contexts, international and domestic, the point is to understand legal authority to address public health emergencies.

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Fatmisia and Clinical Counseling Decision-Making in Master’s-Level Counselor Trainees

Journal of Mental Health Counseling ◽

10.17744/mehc.43.4.04 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 336-353

Author(s):

Kaitlyn M. Forristal ◽

John M. Laux ◽

Madeline Clark ◽

Jennifer L. Reynolds ◽

Taylor M. Nelson

Keyword(s):

Short Form ◽

Counselor Trainees ◽

World Health ◽

Master's Level ◽

Clinical Counseling ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Weight Bias Internalization ◽

Fat Phobia ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Relationship

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have documented an increase in fat people in recent decades, which is being met with a backlash of anti-fat biases, or fatmisia. Fatmisia is prevalent in most aspects of society, especially among fat people who have internalized fatmisia. Utilizing a diagnostic questionnaire in combination with the Fat Phobia Scale–Short Form and the Weight Bias Internalization Scale, this study explored the relationship between client body size, the presence of a major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis, and if applicable, the severity of MDD symptoms assigned by counselor trainees (N = 113). Results were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and covariance. This sample (N = 113) significantly differed in diagnoses assigned to obese clients by assigning more severe MDD. Study limitations and implications are discussed.

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Impact of External Quality Assurance on the Quality of Xpert MTB/RIF Testing in Viet Nam

Journal of Clinical Microbiology ◽

10.1128/jcm.01669-18 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 57 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vidyanidhi Gumma ◽

Kyle DeGruy ◽

Davara Bennett ◽

Thanh Nguyen Thi Kim ◽

Heidi Albert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Assurance ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Production Capacity ◽

Control Program ◽

External Quality Assurance ◽

World Health ◽

External Quality ◽

National Tuberculosis ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Health Organization

ABSTRACT Following the endorsement of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2010, Viet Nam’s National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) began using GeneXpert instruments in NTP laboratories. In 2013, Viet Nam’s NTP implemented an Xpert MTB/RIF external quality assurance (EQA) program in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). Proficiency-testing (PT) panels comprising five dried tube specimens (DTS) were sent to participating sites approximately twice a year from October 2013 to July 2016. The number of enrolled laboratories increased from 22 to 39 during the study period. Testing accuracy was assessed by comparing reported and expected results; percentage scores were assigned; and feedback reports were provided to sites. On-site evaluation (OSE) was conducted for underperforming laboratories. The results from the first five rounds demonstrate the positive impact of PT and targeted OSE visits on testing quality. On average, for every additional round of feedback, the odds of achieving PT scores of ≥80% increased 2.04-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.39- to 3.00-fold). Future work will include scaling up PT to all sites and maintaining the performance of participating laboratories while developing local panel production capacity.

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The health effects of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic

Work ◽

10.3233/wor-203306 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 67 (3) ◽

pp. 523-527

Author(s):

Maryam Feiz Arefi ◽

Amin Babaei-Pouya ◽

Mohsen Poursadeqiyan

Keyword(s):

Health Effects ◽

World Health ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Social Hygiene ◽

Social Communications ◽

Study Results ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Health Organization ◽

Made In

BACKGROUND: Quarantine is considered as an effective solution in the early stages of an epidemic. In the case of the coronavirus epidemic, quarantine was also recommended and implemented as a significant guideline to prevent the disease. However, despite the benefits of quarantine, there are also complications and problems. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the health effects of quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study was conducted as a literature review through searching the databases Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct for papers published before July 2020. The research was conducted based on the keywords “Coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” and “quarantine.” The references of the papers were also reviewed to find the ones not found in the databases. The guidelines published by reputable organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were used in this study. RESULTS: Although quarantine is applied as an important and primary solution in the outbreak of epidemics, in cases of pandemics, it may not be free of negative effects on individuals and public health. However, because of the need to reopen and restart social and economic activities, some changes should be made in lifestyles and work activities. Using cyberspace and telework can be helpful. As the findings showed, COVID-19 bubbles can be used to restore social communications. CONCLUSION: Using masks, avoiding unnecessary gatherings, complying with personal and social hygiene, and respecting social distancing can be valuable solutions that, if implemented properly, can decrease the rate of the disease significantly. It is also emphasized that quarantine is still necessary and important as the best solution for sick people and individuals who are suspected carriers of the disease.

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