Participatory surveillance for COVID-19 trends detection in Brazil

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the necessity of a well-functioning surveillance system to detect and mitigate disease outbreaks. Traditional surveillance (TS) usually relies on healthcare providers and generally suffers from reporting lags that prevent immediate response plans. Participatory surveillance (PS), an innovative digital approach whereby individuals voluntarily monitor and report on their own health status via Web-based surveys, has emerged in the past decade to complement traditional data collections approaches. This study compares novel PS data on COVID-19 infection rates across nine Brazilian cities with official TS data to examine the opportunities and challenges of using the former, and the potential advantages of combining the two approaches. We find that high participation rates are key for PS data to adequately mirror TS infection rates. Where participation was high, we document a significant trend correlation between lagged PS data and TS infection rates, suggesting that the former could be used for early detection. In our data, forecasting models integrating both approaches increased accuracy up to 3% relative to a 14-day forecast horizon model based exclusively on TS data. Furthermore, we show that the PS data captures a population that significantly differs from the traditional observation. These results corroborate previous studies when it comes to the benefits of an integrated and comprehensive surveillance system, but also shed lights on its limitations, and on the need for additional research to improve future implementations of PS platforms.

Seroprevalence of the Serological Markers of Transfusion-Transmissible Infections among Volunteer Blood Donors of Kosti Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital

Background: Transfusion-transmissible infections are well-known global health challenges. The present study is proposed to investigate the seropositivity of anti-HIV1/2, anti-HCV, HBsAg, and anti-T.pallidum among volunteer blood donors of Kosti Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital. Methods: Our study was conducted in a cross-sectional retrospective manner. The data of donors who attended Kosti Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital throughout 2016 to 2018 were reviewed and retrieved manually from blood bank records. Results: Out of 8139 donors, 22.52% were seropositive for serological markers of TTIs and 1.67% were seropositive for at least two serological markers of TTIs. The overall seropositivity rate of anti-HIV1/2, HBsAg, anti-HCV, and anti-T.pallidum was 1.77%, 6.07%, 1.14%, and 11.87%, respectively (p < 0.000). Anti-T.pallidum was the most frequently detected (p < 0.000) marker across all study variables. TTIs seroprevalence was significantly (p < 0.000) varied according to the age, residence, occupations, and blood groups. Notably, there was a rising trend in the rate of anti-HIV1/2 and seropositivity for more than one marker with age (p < 0.000). Regionally, rural area residents had a higher rate of anti-HIV1/2 (2.20%), HBsAg (6.31%), anti-HCV (1.42%), anti-T.pallidum (18.38%), and multiple markers seropositivity (2.28%) compared to urban areas. Between occupations, the highest rate of anti-HIV1/2 (p = 0.497), HBsAg (p = 0.003), anti-HCV (p = 0.385), anti-T.pallidum (p < 0.000), and multiple markers seropositivity (p < 0.000) were detected in farmers. Regarding the screening, we also found that the frequency of anti-T.pallidum was significantly (p = 0.004) higher in donors that carry the AB+ve blood group, whereas anti-HCV (1.83%) was more frequent in O−ve blood groups (p = 0.004). Anti-T.pallidum+HBsAg was the most frequently (1.22%) co-occurring marker. In contrast, anti-T.pallidum+anti-HIV1/2+HBsAg was the lowest frequency marker (p < 0.000). Conclusions: The study showed an alarming rate of TTIs, which suggests the requirement for comprehensive surveillance and health education programs.

Measuring the Effective Dispersal of an Emerging Coastal Weed, Euphorbia Paralias (Sea Spurge), To Help Inform its Eradication.

Understanding dispersal and establishment patterns of invasive plant species is critical information to help control and eradicate their populations. Euphorbia paralias, sea spurge, is a highly invasive weed that can be a serious threat to coastal environments. Two recent incursions of E. paralias on New Zealand’s coastline consisted of one reproductive adult surrounded by several hundred juveniles, providing the opportunity to gather effective dispersal distance data for this species. Using these two separate populations effective dispersal distances curves were created for E. paralias. It was found one adult led to the establishment of 213 healthy plants at NZ’s southern-most incursion and 484 healthy plants at the northern-most incursion. All plants were subsequently removed from the site. The maximum effective dispersal distance of 15.8m on land for E. paralias was larger than would be predicted by the majority of trait-based dispersal distance models and the estimate of ~ 2m in the literature. These results show that E. paralias can establish large healthy populations, making it a considerable threat to coastal environments. However, populations around an adult plant are fairly concentrated at the very early stages of invasion (90% of offspring < 5.5m from the adult) providing opportunities to remove the seed bank at incursion sites. Early detection of E. paralias populations using comprehensive surveillance and removal of any new populations (seed and establishing plants) will be essential components for the success in any eradication programme for sea spurge.

Phylogeography and evolutionary dynamics analysis of porcine delta-coronavirus with host expansion to humans

From 2003 onwards, three pandemics have been caused by coronaviruses: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV); middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV); and, most recently, SARS-CoV-2. Notably, all three were transmitted from animals to humans. This would suggest that animals are potential sources of epidemics for humans. The emerging porcine delta-coronavirus was reported to infect children. This is a red flag that marks the ability of PDCoV to break barriers of cross-species transmission to humans. Therefore, we conducted molecular genetic analysis of global clade PDCoV to characterize spatio-temporal patterns of viral diffusion and genetic diversity. PDCoV was classified into three major lineages, according to distribution and phylogenetic analysis of PDCoV. It can be determined that PDCoV originated in Asia—most likely in Southeast Asia—through inference of migration rate and transmission routes. We also selected six special spike amino acid sequences to align and analyze to find seven significant mutation sites. The accumulation of these mutations may enhance dynamic movements, accelerating spike protein membrane fusion events and transmission. Altogether, our study offers a novel insight into the diversification, evolution, and interspecies transmission and origin of PDCoV and emphasizes the need to study the zoonotic potential of the PDCoV and comprehensive surveillance and enhanced biosecurity precautions for PDCoV.

Introduction and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 in Denmark

In early 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 became dominant across large parts of the world. In Denmark, comprehensive and real-time test, contact-tracing, and sequencing efforts were applied to sustain epidemic control. Here, we use these data to investigate the transmissibility, introduction, and onward transmission of B.1.1.7 in Denmark. In a period with stable restrictions, we estimated an increased B.1.1.7 transmissibility of 58% (95% CI: [56%,60%]) relative to other lineages. Epidemiological and phylogenetic analyses revealed that 37% of B.1.1.7 cases were related to the initial introduction in November 2020. Continuous introductions contributed substantially to case numbers, highlighting the benefit of balanced travel restrictions and self-isolation procedures coupled with comprehensive surveillance efforts, to sustain epidemic control in the face of emerging variants.

Improving Situational Awareness Using a Comprehensive Surveillance Strategy

ABSTRACT Having accurate, timely, and relevant situational awareness information is vital during an oil spill response to ensure informed operational and strategic decision making as well as effective coordination of field operations. Recent technological advancements have greatly enhanced situational awareness data collection capabilities such that numerous real-, or near real-time, data streams and inputs into the Incident Management Team are now possible. Although these advancements are generally beneficial, they can easily result in data overload and the subsequent burial or masking of critical information. This issue is compounded by the absence of standardized mechanisms or processes to assess and manage the data. Another area of concern is while surveillance is a key component of situational awareness, it is often comprised of random acts of surveillance rather than an objective driven, fit-for-purpose strategy. To address these issues, IPIECA, in coordination with the American Petroleum Institute (API), held stakeholder workshops in the United States and United Kingdom on situational awareness needs as well as the development of a comprehensive surveillance strategy. The results are being incorporated into an Oil Spill Surveillance Strategy technical support document currently under development by IPIECA. This paper will primarily focus on the key components of situational awareness as well as considerations for developing a comprehensive surveillance strategy. Additionally, it will discuss key findings of the workshops, exercise blind spots, data flow and timing, who should own the data collection process and other related topics.