scholarly journals An interim review of the epidemiological characteristics of 2019 novel coronavirus

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. e2020006 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of airport screening at detecting travellers infected with 2019-nCoV

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Billy Quilty ◽  
Sam Clifford ◽  
Stefan Flasche ◽  
Rosalind M. Eggo ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Incubation Period ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Online Tool ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
New Information ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

As the number of novel coronavirus cases grows both inside and outside of China, public health authorities require evidence on the effectiveness of control measures such as thermal screening of arrivals at airports. We evaluated the effectiveness of exit and entry screening for 2019-nCoV infection. In our baseline scenario, we estimated that 46.5% (95%CI: 35.9 to 57.7) of infected travellers would not be detected, depending on the incubation period, sensitivity of exit and entry screening, and the proportion of cases which are asymptomatic. Airport screening is unlikely to detect a sufficient proportion of 2019-nCoV infected travellers to avoid entry of infected travellers. We developed an online tool so that results can be updated as new information becomes available.

scholarly journals Indoor Environmental Quality in Dwellings and Lifestyle Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Russian Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5975
Author(s):  
Vladimir Reshetnikov ◽  
Oleg Mitrokhin ◽  
Elena Belova ◽  
Victor Mikhailovsky ◽  
Maria Mikerova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Isolation Index ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, and as a response, public health authorities started enforcing preventive measures like self-isolation and social distancing. The enforcement of isolation has consequences that may affect the lifestyle-related behavior of the general population. Quarantine encompasses a range of strategies that can be used to detain, isolate, or conditionally release individuals or populations infected or exposed to contagious diseases and should be tailored to circumstances. Interestingly, medical students may represent an example of how the COVID-19 pandemic can form new habits and change lifestyle behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey to assess changes in lifestyle-related behavior of self-isolated medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then we analyzed the sanitary-hygienic regulations of the Russian Federation to determine the requirements for healthy buildings. Results showed that during the pandemic, the enforcement of isolation affects medical students’ lifestyle-related behavior and accompanies an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and healthy buildings are cutting-edge factors in preventing COVID-19 and NCDs. The Russian sanitary-hygienic regulations support improving this factor with suitable requirements for ventilation, sewage, waste management, and disinfection. Herein, assessing isolation is possible through the hygienic self-isolation index.

scholarly journals The Impact of Covid-19 Public Health Policies on Persons with Disability and their Caregivers in Malta

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-37
Author(s):  
Andrew Camilleri ◽  
Samantha Pace Gasan ◽  
Andrew Azzopardi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Restrictive Measures ◽  
The Impact

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global health pandemic, due to the spread of a novel coronavirus, later named “Covid-19”. The spread of Covid-19 led to social isolation, distancing and a number of restrictive measures in Malta.  The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent restrictive measures on persons with disability and their caregivers and families in Malta. Using thematic analysis, the study found that a variety of impacts ranging from a sense of isolation, lack of essential services being provided, additional difficulties encountered at the place of work and education and measures that were not sufficiently tailored for persons with disability issued by public health authorities. Underlying the additional difficulties brought about by Covid-19, structural difficulties to access essential services as well as ignorance from policy makers and politicians and the added “vulnerable-ization” of persons with disabilities were found to be highly impacting factors that pervade the experience of persons with disabilities and their caregivers.

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

CommonHealth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-147
Author(s):  
Shannon McGinnis ◽  
Shane Mclouglin ◽  
Tiffany Buturla ◽  
Nishita D'Souza ◽  
José Logo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Population Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Health Control ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Wastewater Samples

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.

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

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Reduction in time delay of isolation in COVID-19 cases in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukhyun Ryu ◽  
Cheolsun Jang ◽  
Baekjin Kim
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Time Delay ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Symptom Onset ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mean Delay ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

AbstractKorean public health authorities raised the public alert to its highest level on February 23, 2020 to mitigate the 2019 novel coronavirus disease epidemic. We have identified that the mean delay from symptom onset to isolation was reduced to one day after raising the alert. Vigilance can reduce this interval.

scholarly journals The Role of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Outbreak Maps on the Internet in the Prediction and Early Warning of Infectious Diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
yufang Cao ◽  
Rui Qiu ◽  
Chao Ji ◽  
Zhidian Wu ◽  
Yijun Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Multiple Organ ◽  
Current Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The Public ◽  
Epidemic Area ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Abstract BackgroundA novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV) has attracted worldwide attention since December 2019 when it appeared in Wuhan, China. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can cause respiratory distress syndrome or multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and be life-threatening. Covid-19 incidence can be reduced by using an outbreak map based on Geoinformatics. MethodsThis article introduces geographic mapping on the Internet and uses epidemic maps such as rank circles, choropleth rendering, overlay analysis and animation and other technologies to guide people’s behavior, reduce entry into areas with severe epidemics, and prevent new crowd infections. ResultsBy using various epidemic maps, households can reduce the access of people to the epidemic area (especially travellers to potentially at-risk areas), reduce the possibility of COVID-19 infection, and facilitate the timely diagnosis and treatment of fevered patients or suspected COVID-19. In addition, public health managers can intuitively understand the dynamics of the epidemic and spatial analysis of trends in outbreak dynamics and COVID-19 patterns helped to assist the public health sector and to evaluate/revise current control measures. ConclusionThe purpose of these online epidemic data collect and visualize is to notify travellers and assist the public or to analyzing the spatial and current trends and patterns of COVID-19 for public health authorities in assessing/revising current control measures.

Bioterrorism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1718-1724
Author(s):  
Manfred S. Green
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Public ◽  
Contagious Diseases ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Incubation Periods ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Barrier Nursing

Bioterrorism is the deliberate use of biological agents to cause illness, death, and fear for ideological or personal purposes. The agents might be disseminated through aerosolization, food, human carriers, infected insects, or water. The incubation periods of these agents can vary from hours to weeks, with early symptoms mimicking many other infectious diseases. The diagnosis might not be suspected unless cases occur in clusters. Early identification of outbreaks will depend largely on the ability of primary care and emergency room physicians to identify and promptly report cases to the public health authorities. Specific treatment (if available) of affected individuals will depend on the pathogen, and for contagious diseases such as smallpox and plague, isolation of patients and their contacts, barrier nursing, quarantine, and restriction of the movements and social interactions of people are important control measures.

Facts and Myths: Efficacies of Repurposing Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine for the Treatment of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 1703-1721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Alim Al-Bari
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
Drug Repurposing ◽  
Transmission Efficiency ◽  
Rapid Diagnosis ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Potential Efficacy ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The 2019-nCoV first broke out in Wuhan and subsequently spread worldwide owing to its extreme transmission efficiency. The fact that the COVID-19 cases and mortalities are reported globally and the WHO has declared this outbreak as the pandemic, the international health authorities have focused on rapid diagnosis and isolation of patients as well as search for therapies able to counter the disease severity. Due to the lack of known specific, effective and proven therapies as well as the situation of public-health emergency, drug repurposing appears to be the best armour to find a therapeutic solution against 2019-nCoV infection. Repurposing anti-malarial drugs and chloroquine (CQ)/ hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have shown efficacy to inhibit most coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-1 coronavirus. These CQ analogues have shown potential efficacy to inhibit 2019-nCoV in vitro that leads to focus several future clinical trials. This review discusses the possible effective roles and mechanisms of CQ analogues for interfering with the 2019-nCoV replication cycle and infection.

scholarly journals Epidemiological and virological characterization of a large community-wide outbreak of hepatitis A in southern Italy

2007 ◽  
Vol 136 (8) ◽  
pp. 1027-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. PONTRELLI ◽  
D. BOCCIA ◽  
M. DI RENZI ◽  
M. MASSARI ◽  
F. GIUGLIANO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Hepatitis A ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Hepatitis A Virus ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Common Source ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Route Of Transmission ◽  
Public Health Authorities

SUMMARYA large outbreak of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection occurred in 2004 in Campania, a region of southern Italy, with 882 cases reported between 1 January and 1 August. The local public health authorities and the Italian National Institute of Health carried out investigations in order to characterize the agent, identify the source of infection and the route of transmission, and implement appropriate control measures. A web-based reporting system enhanced the flow of information between public health authorities, providing real-time epidemic curves and frequency distributions. The same 1B HAV genotype was found in 90% of sera from a subset of patients with acute disease, suggesting a local common source. A case-control study in the municipality with the highest attack rate showed that raw seafood consumption, in particular if illegally sold in water, was strongly associated with HAV illness. Samples of seafood systematically collected from retailers were found contaminated by HAV.

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