Can Wastewater be Used to Improve our COVID-19 Surveillance Efforts?

As the spread of COVID-19 continues to significantly impact daily life in the United States and globally, there is a need for a clear understanding of disease prevalence in communities. Traditional methods that rely on counting individual cases often result in underreporting due to limited access to testing or healthcare. This issue is further exacerbated by the spread of COVID-19 by asymptomatic or presymptomatic individuals who may not seek testing. Historically, wastewater surveillance has been used to provide population-level data on the prevalence of infectious diseases in communities. Data collected through wastewater surveillance has been used to advise public health control measures, such as vaccination campaigns, and to detect local outbreaks before cases are reported to public health authorities. For this reason, researchers around the globe have been analyzing wastewater samples for SARS-CoV-2 to assist in our response to the existing COVID-19 pandemic. This commentary discusses the potential utility of wastewater-based surveillance to advise public health control strategies for COVID-19 and discusses how it may be used to strengthen local surveillance efforts in Philadelphia.

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Users’ Beliefs Toward Physical Distancing in Facebook Pages of Public Health Authorities During COVID-19 Pandemic in Early 2020

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/10901981211014428 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 109019812110144

Author(s):

Soon Guan Tan ◽

Aravind Sesagiri Raamkumar ◽

Hwee Lin Wee

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Belief Model ◽

United States Public Health ◽

Health Belief ◽

The United States ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Belief Model ◽

The Health Belief Model

This study aims to describe Facebook users’ beliefs toward physical distancing measures implemented during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic using the key constructs of the health belief model. A combination of rule-based filtering and manual classification methods was used to classify user comments on COVID-19 Facebook posts of three public health authorities: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, Public Health England, and Ministry of Health, Singapore. A total of 104,304 comments were analyzed for posts published between 1 January, 2020, and 31 March, 2020, along with COVID-19 cases and deaths count data from the three countries. Findings indicate that the perceived benefits of physical distancing measures ( n = 3,463; 3.3%) was three times higher than perceived barriers ( n = 1,062; 1.0%). Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 ( n = 2,934; 2.8%) was higher compared with perceived severity ( n = 2,081; 2.0%). Although susceptibility aspects of physical distancing were discussed more often at the start of the year, mentions on the benefits of intervention emerged stronger toward the end of the analysis period, highlighting the shift in beliefs. The health belief model is useful for understanding Facebook users’ beliefs at a basic level, and it provides a scope for further improvement.

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SARS: current overview, aetiology and epidemiology

Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences ◽

10.17305/bjbms.2003.3555 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 46-55

Author(s):

Semra Čavaljuga ◽

Michael Faulde ◽

Jerrold J. Scharninghausen

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

World Health Organisation ◽

The United States ◽

Air Travel ◽

World Health ◽

New Disease ◽

The Past ◽

Health Authorities ◽

The World ◽

Public Health Authorities

At this moment, public health authorities, physicians and scientists around the world are struggling to cope with a severe and rapidly spreading new disease in humans called severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) this appears to be the first severe and easily transmissible new disease to emerge in the 21st century. Though much about the disease remains poorly understood, including the details of the causative virus, we do know that it has features that allow it to spread rapidly along international air travel routes. As of 10 May 2003, a cumulative 7296 probable SARS cases with 526 deaths have been reported from 30 countries on three continents (WHO, ProMED). In the past week, more than 1000 new probable cases and 96 deaths were reported globally. This represents an increase of 119 new cases and 8 new deaths compared with 9 May 2003 (China (85), Taiwan (23), and Hong Kong (7) represented the overwhelming majority, with one additional case each reported from France, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States). Only in China, as of 10 May 2003 (WHO) total of 4884 with 235 deaths have been reported. Some outbreaks have reassuring features.

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An interim review of the epidemiological characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus

Epidemiology and Health ◽

10.4178/epih.e2020006 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

pp. e2020006 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Sukhyun Ryu ◽

Byung Chul Chun

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Public Health Emergency ◽

Control Measures ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics

OBJECTIVES: The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from Wuhan, China is currently recognized as a public health emergency of global concern.METHODS: We reviewed the currently available literature to provide up-to-date guidance on control measures to be implemented by public health authorities.RESULTS: Some of the epidemiological characteristics of 2019-nCoV have been identified. However, there remain considerable uncertainties, which should be considered when providing guidance to public health authorities on control measures.CONCLUSIONS: Additional studies incorporating more detailed information from confirmed cases would be valuable.

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Using photos for public health communication: A computational analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Instagram photos and public responses

Health Informatics Journal ◽

10.1177/1460458219896673 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 2159-2180 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Yunhwan Kim ◽

Jang Hyun Kim

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Disease Control ◽

The United States ◽

Public Health Communication ◽

Cognitive Services ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Centers For Disease Control ◽

Human Faces

This study aims to explore the use of Instagram by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the representative public health authorities in the United States. For this aim, all of the photos uploaded on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Instagram account were crawled and the content of them were analyzed using Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services. Also, engagement was measured by the sum of numbers of likes and comments to each photo, and sentiment analysis of comments was conducted. Results suggest that the photos that can be categorized into “text” and “people” took the largest share in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Instagram photos. And it was found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s major way of delivering messages on Instagram was to imprint key messages that call for actions for better health on photos and to provide the source of complementary information on text component of each post. It was also found that photos with more and bigger human faces had lower level of engagement than the others, and happiness and neutral emotions expressed on the faces in photos were negatively associated with engagement. The features whose high value would make the photos look splendid and gaudy were negatively correlated with engagement, but sharpness was positively correlated.

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Vaping Restrictions: Is Priority to the Young Justified?

Nicotine & Tobacco Research ◽

10.1093/ntr/ntaa175 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Monica Magalhaes

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

United States ◽

At Risk ◽

Young People ◽

Harm Reduction ◽

Ethical Dilemma ◽

The United States ◽

Youth Smoking ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities

Abstract The vast majority of smokers become dependent on nicotine in youth. Preventing dependence has therefore been crucial to the recent decline in youth smoking. The advent of vaping creates an opportunity for harm reduction to existing smokers (mostly adults) but simultaneously also undermines prevention efforts by becoming a new vehicle for young people to become dependent on nicotine, creating an ethical dilemma. Restrictions to access to some vaping products enacted in response to the increase in vaping among youth observed in the United States since 2018 have arguably prioritized prevention of new cases of dependence—protecting the young—over harm reduction to already dependent adults. Can this prioritization of the young be justified? This article surveys the main bioethical arguments for prioritizing giving health benefits to the young and finds that none can justify prioritizing dependence prevention over harm reduction: any reasons for prioritizing the current cohort of young people at risk from vaping will equally apply to current adult smokers, who are overwhelmingly likely to have become nicotine-dependent in their own youth. Public health authorities’ current tendency to prioritize the young, therefore, does not seem to be ethically justified. Implications This article argues that commonsense reasons for prioritizing the young do not apply to the ethical dilemma surrounding restricting access to vaping products.

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Why Re-Invent the Wheel? Social Network Approaches Can Be Used to Mitigate SARS-CoV-2 Related Disparities in Latinx Seasonal Farmworkers

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182312709 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (23) ◽

pp. 12709

Author(s):

Mariano Kanamori ◽

Daniel Castaneda ◽

Kyle J. Self ◽

Lucy Sanchez ◽

Yesenia Rosas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Social Network ◽

Cultural Values ◽

The United States ◽

Public Health Research ◽

Unique Challenge ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Seasonal Farmworkers ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Network Approaches

Latinx seasonal farmworkers are essential workers and are at elevated risk for SARS-CoV-2 in the United States. Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 are unique to this population and include crowded living conditions, isolated social networks, and exploitative working environments. The circumstances and cultural values of Latinx seasonal farmworkers pose a unique challenge to public health authorities working to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This community is in dire need of urgent public health research to identify opportunities to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission: social network methods could be the solution. Using previously collected and new information provided by a team of experts, this commentary provides a brief description of Latinx seasonal farmworker disparities that affect tracking and treating SARS-CoV-2 in this important group, the challenges introduced by SARS-CoV-2, and how social network approaches learned from other infectious disease prevention strategies can address these disparities.

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Syndromic Surveillance Practice in the United States 2014: Results from a Nationwide Survey

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics ◽

10.5210/ojphi.v7i1.5756 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tera Reynolds ◽

Scott Gordon ◽

Paula Soper ◽

James Buehler ◽

Richard Hopkins ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

United States ◽

Capacity Building ◽

Syndromic Surveillance ◽

Nationwide Survey ◽

The United States ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Surveillance Practice

Presentation of the results of a nationwide survey designed to assess the syndromic surveillance practices and capacity-building assistance needs of state and territorial public health authorities in the United States.

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Widespread activity of multiple lineages of Usutu virus, western Europe, 2016

Eurosurveillance ◽

10.2807/1560-7917.es.2017.22.4.30452 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Daniel Cadar ◽

Renke Lühken ◽

Henk van der Jeugd ◽

Mutien Garigliany ◽

Ute Ziegler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Western Europe ◽

Late Summer ◽

Control Measures ◽

Usutu Virus ◽

Dead Bird ◽

Outbreak Area ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

And Control

In the summer of 2016, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands reported widespread Usutu virus (USUV) activity based on live and dead bird surveillance. The causative USUV strains represented four lineages, of which two putative novel lineages were most likely recently introduced into Germany and spread to other western European countries. The spatial extent of the outbreak area corresponded with R0 values > 1. The occurrence of the outbreak, the largest USUV epizootic registered so far in Europe, allowed us to gain insight in how a recently introduced arbovirus with potential public health implications can spread and become a resident pathogen in a naïve environment. Understanding the ecological and epidemiological factors that drive the emergence or re-emergence of USUV is critical to develop and implement timely surveillance strategies for adequate preventive and control measures. Public health authorities, blood transfusion services and clinicians in countries where USUV was detected should be aware of the risk of possible USUV infection in humans, including in patients with unexplained encephalitis or other neurological impairments, especially during late summer when mosquito densities peak.

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The Reopening of Schools and Adoption of Universal Wearing of Face Masks in Anticipation of Sustained Transmission or the Second Wave of COVID-19 with the Influenza Virus

Journal of Public Health International ◽

10.14302/issn.2641-4538.jphi-20-3442 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Sasho Stoleski

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Influenza Virus ◽

Influenza A ◽

The United States ◽

High Morbidity ◽

Health Authorities ◽

12Th Grade ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Environmental Surface ◽

Second Wave

The Covid-19 pandemic has swept rapidly from Wuhan, China to the entire globe in less than six months, infecting over 7 million people and claiming the lives of over 500,000. In the United States, greater than 2 million individuals have become infected and over 110,000 people killed. With no evidence of slowing of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, public health authorities must prepare for possible sustained transmission of Covid-19, or a second wave into the Fall 2020, but with the presence of the influenza A virus. In the Fall 2020, schools will reopen from kindergarten to 12th grade. Dual pandemics or epidemics will result in high morbidity and mortality not observed when either virus was solely active. Community leaders, educational administrators and public health systems must be prepared for simultaneous outbreaks of both Covid-19 and influenza. Although there are no clinical studies that have evaluated the benefits on the use of face masks during an epidemic or pandemic, public health non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPIs) measures should include the routine use of face masks during school sessions. Using face masks with other NPI may interrupt viral transmission as it has been established that respiratory viruses, such as Covid-19 and the influenza virus are transmitted via respiratory droplets, aerosols, and environmental surface contact.

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Risk factors for death and illness in dogs imported into the United States, 2010--2018

10.22541/au.163334833.31556948/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emily Pieracci ◽

Brian Maskery ◽

Kendra Stauffer ◽

Alida Gertz ◽

Clive Brown

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

United States ◽

Well Being ◽

The United States ◽

Emerging Diseases ◽

International Travel ◽

Morbidity And Mortality ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities

CDC estimates 1 million dogs are imported into the United States annually. With the movement of large numbers of animals into the United States the risk of disease importation is a concern, especially for emerging diseases. Dogs that arrive to the United States ill or dead are investigated by public health authorities to ensure dogs are not infected with diseases of concern (such as rabies). We identified factors associated with illness and death in imported dogs and estimated the initial investigation cost to public health authorities. Dog importation data from the CDC’s Quarantine Activity Reporting System were reviewed from 2010–2018. The date of entry, country of origin, port of entry, transportation method, and breed were extracted to examine factors associated with illness and death in dogs during international travel. Costs for public health investigations were estimated from data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Office of Personal Management. Death or illness was more likely to occur in brachycephalic breeds (aOR=3.88, 95%CI 2.74–5.51). Transportation of dogs via cargo (aOR=2.41, 95%CI 1.57–3.70) or as checked baggage (aOR=5.74, 95%CI 3.65–9.03) were also associated with death or illness. On average, 19 dog illnesses or deaths were reported annually from 2010–2018. The estimated annual cost to public health authorities to conduct initial public health assessments ranged from $2,071–$104,648. Current regulations do not provide adequate resources or mechanisms to monitor the rates of morbidity and mortality of imported dogs. There are growing attempts to assess animal welfare and communicable disease importation risks; however, responsibility for dogs’ health and well-being is overseen by multiple agencies. A joint federal agency approach to identify interventions that reduce dog morbidity and mortality during flights while continuing to protect U.S. borders from public health and foreign animal disease threats could be beneficial.

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