More than One Third of Global Human Infectious Disease Burden Is Environmentally Mediated, with Disproportionate Effects in Rural Poor Areas

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Sokolow ◽  
Isabel J. Jones ◽  
Chelsea L. Wood ◽  
Kevin D. Lafferty ◽  
Andres Garchitorena ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Rural Poor ◽  
Human Infectious Disease

scholarly journals Infectious disease burden in Gujarat (2005–2011): comparison of selected infectious disease rates with India

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 22838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veena Iyer ◽  
Gulrez Shah Azhar ◽  
Nandini Choudhury ◽  
Vidwan Singh Dhruwey ◽  
Russell Dacombe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Disease Rates

scholarly journals Municipal Wastewater Surveillance Revealed a High Community Disease Burden of a Rarely Reported and Possibly Subclinical Salmonella enterica Serovar Derby Strain

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Diemert ◽  
Tao Yan
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Salmonella Enterica ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Enteric Pathogens ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing Data ◽  
Subclinical Infection ◽  
Infection Rates ◽  
Sampling Campaign ◽  
Clinical Cases

ABSTRACT Clinical surveillance of enteric pathogens like Salmonella is integral to track outbreaks and endemic disease trends. However, clinic-centered disease monitoring biases toward detection of severe cases and underestimates the incidence of self-limiting gastroenteritis and asymptomatic strains. Monitoring pathogen loads and diversity in municipal wastewater (MW) can provide insight into asymptomatic or subclinical infections which are not reflected in clinical cases. Subclinical infection patterns may explain the unusual observation from a year-long sampling campaign in Hawaii: Salmonella enterica serovar Derby was the most abundant pulsotype in MW but was detected infrequently in clinics over the sampling period. Using whole-genome sequencing data of Salmonella isolates from MW and public databases, we demonstrate that the Derby serovar has lower virulence potential than other clinical serovars, particularly based on its reduced profile of genes linked with immune evasion and symptom production, suggesting its potential as a subclinical salmonellosis agent. Furthermore, MW had high abundance of a rare Derby sequence type (ST), ST-72 (rather than the more common ST-40). ST-72 isolates had higher frequencies of fimbrial adherence genes than ST-40 isolates; these are key virulence factors involved in colonization and persistence of infections. However, ST-72 isolates lack the Derby-specific Salmonella pathogenicity island 23 (SPI-23), which invokes host immune responses. In combination, ST-72’s genetic features may lead to appreciable infection rates without obvious symptom production, allowing for subclinical persistence in the community. This study demonstrated wastewater’s capability to provide community infectious disease information—such as background infection rates of subclinical enteric illness—which is otherwise inaccessible through clinical approaches. IMPORTANCE Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has been conventionally used to analyze community health via the detection of chemicals, such as legal and illicit drugs; however, municipal wastewater contains microbiological determinants of health and disease as well, including enteric pathogens. Here, we demonstrate that WBE can be used to examine subclinical community salmonellosis patterns. Derby was the most abundant Salmonella serovar detected in Hawaii wastewater over a year-long sampling study, with few corresponding clinical cases. Comparative genomics analyses indicate that the normally rare strain of S. Derby found in wastewater has a unique combination of genes which allow it to persist as a subclinical infection without producing symptoms of severe gastroenteritis. This study shows that WBE can be used to explore trends in community infectious disease patterns which may not be reflected in clinical monitoring, shedding light on overall enteric disease burden and rates of asymptomatic cases.

scholarly journals Seventy-five years of estimating the force of infection from current status data

2009 ◽  
Vol 138 (6) ◽  
pp. 802-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. HENS ◽  
M. AERTS ◽  
C. FAES ◽  
Z. SHKEDY ◽  
O. LEJEUNE ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Parvovirus B19 ◽  
Current Status Data ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Force Of Infection ◽  
Status Data ◽  
Notification Data ◽  
Case Notification ◽  
Key Parameter

SUMMARYThe force of infection, describing the rate at which a susceptible person acquires an infection, is a key parameter in models estimating the infectious disease burden, and the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of infectious disease prevention. Since Muench formulated the first catalytic model to estimate the force of infection from current status data in 1934, exactly 75 years ago, several authors addressed the estimation of this parameter by more advanced statistical methods, while applying these to seroprevalence and reported incidence/case notification data. In this paper we present an historical overview, discussing the relevance of Muench's work, and we explain the wide array of newer methods with illustrations on pre-vaccination serological survey data of two airborne infections: rubella and parvovirus B19. We also provide guidance on deciding which method(s) to apply to estimate the force of infection, given a particular set of data.

The Wellcome Trust Lecture

Parasitology ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 98 (S1) ◽  
pp. S19-S28 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. F. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Molecular Genetics ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Helminth Parasite ◽  
Rural Poor ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Molecular Analyses ◽  
Human Parasite ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Developed World

AbstractThe modern biology era in which molecular analyses dominate and immunology, cell biology and molecular genetics are prominent, has created unprecedented opportunities for the vaccine developer. The need for new and improved vaccines against many infectious disease agents is also great, no more so than for the protozoan and helminth parasite scourges of the rural poor in the tropical, less-industrially developed world. Despite the opportunities and needs, no vaccine against any human parasite yet exists nor does any molecular vaccine against any parasite; this chapter is a general discussion on the reasons for this state of affairs that assuredly will change soon.

scholarly journals The winding road to health: A systematic scoping review on the effect of geographical accessibility to health care on infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0244921
Author(s):  
Fleur Hierink ◽  
Emelda A. Okiro ◽  
Antoine Flahault ◽  
Nicolas Ray
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Geographical Accessibility ◽  
Physical Accessibility

Background Geographical accessibility to healthcare is an important component of infectious disease dynamics. Timely access to health facilities can prevent disease progression and enables disease notification through surveillance systems. The importance of accounting for physical accessibility in response to infectious diseases is increasingly recognized. Yet, there is no comprehensive review of the literature available on infectious diseases in relation to geographical accessibility to care. Therefore, we aimed at evaluating the current state of knowledge on the effect of geographical accessibility to health care on infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries. Methods and findings A search strategy was developed and conducted on Web of Science and PubMed on 4 March 2019. New publications were checked until May 28, 2020. All publication dates were eligible. Data was charted into a tabular format and descriptive data analyses were carried out to identify geographical regions, infectious diseases, and measures of physical accessibility among other factors. Search queries in PubMed and Web of Science yielded 560 unique publications. After title and abstract screening 99 articles were read in full detail, from which 64 articles were selected, including 10 manually. Results of the included publications could be broadly categorized into three groups: (1) decreased spatial accessibility to health care was associated with a higher infectious disease burden, (2) decreased accessibility was associated to lower disease reporting, minimizing true understanding of disease distribution, and (3) the occurrence of an infectious disease outbreak negatively impacted health care accessibility in affected regions. In the majority of studies, poor geographical accessibility to health care was associated with higher disease incidence, more severe health outcomes, higher mortality, and lower disease reporting. No difference was seen between countries or infectious diseases. Conclusions Currently, policy-makers and scientists rely on data collected through passive surveillance systems, introducing uncertainty on disease estimates for remote communities. Our results highlight the need for increasing integration of geographical accessibility measures in disease risk modelling, allowing more realistic disease estimates and enhancing our understanding of true disease burden. Additionally, disease risk estimates could be used in turn to optimize the allocation of health services in the prevention and detection of infectious diseases.

scholarly journals The use of Hydroxychloroquine in the Treatment of COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-291
Author(s):  
Kamer Tecen-Yücel ◽  
Emre Kara ◽  
Kutay Demirkan ◽  
Serhat Ünal
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pharmacological Properties ◽  
Potential Treatment ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many ◽  
Potential Use ◽  
Human Infectious Disease

COVID-19 is a newly emerging human infectious disease of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) origin described as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11, 2020. There is currently no definitive cure for COVID-19; however, among the many treatment strategies, hydroxychloroquine has been suggested as a potential treatment. The purpose of this article was to review the pharmacological properties and mechanism of COVID-19 treatment with hydroxychloroquine and its potential use on the current COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals The accelerated infectious disease risk in the Anthropocene: more outbreaks and wider global spread

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Morand ◽  
Bruno A. Walther
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Disease Networks ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
Human Infectious Disease

The greatly accelerated economic growth during the Anthropocene has resulted in astonishing improvements in many aspects of human well-being, but has also caused the acceleration of risks, such as the interlinked biodiversity and climate crisis. Here, we report on another risk: the accelerated infectious disease risk associated with the number and geographic spread of human infectious disease outbreaks. Using the most complete, reliable, and up-to-date database on human infectious disease outbreaks (GIDEON), we show that the number of disease outbreaks, the number of diseases involved in these outbreaks, and the number of countries affected have increased during the entire Anthropocene. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of these outbreaks is becoming more globalized in the sense that the overall modularity of the disease networks across the globe has decreased, meaning disease outbreaks have become increasingly pandemic in their nature. This decrease in modularity is correlated with the increase in air traffic. We finally show that those countries and regions which are most central within these disease networks tend to be countries with higher GDPs. Therefore, one cost of increased global mobility and greater economic growth is the increased risk of disease outbreaks and their faster and wider spread. We briefly discuss three different scenarios which decision-makers might follow in light of our results.

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