Public Health, Infection and Infectious Agents: The Etiology is Seemingly Always ‘Clever’

Society is witnessing an increasing incidence of illnesses with neuropsychiatric manifestations. Prominent examples include autism and learning disorders in children, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome in adults and neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly. Although clinically diverse, all of these illnesses could be contributed to by infectious agents. If so, one might expect to trace the occurrence and progression of various brain damaging illnesses among various family members. An example of this occurring in three generations of a family was unsuccessfully submitted for publication in another journal 2015; in part because of its Public Health implications. It is submitted to this journal because of definitive evidence for the transmission to humans of infectious cellular sequences incorporated into monkey-derived stealth adapted viruses.

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The Role of the Public Health Community in Detecting and Responding to Domestic Terrorism Involving Infectious Agents

Emerging Infections 3 ◽

10.1128/9781555818418.ch14 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 219-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

James W. LeDuc ◽

Stephen M. Ostroff ◽

Joseph E. McDade ◽

Scott Lillibridge ◽

James M. Hughes

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Domestic Terrorism ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Public Health Community ◽

The Public ◽

Health Community

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Childhood detention during COVID-19 in Italy: building momentum for a comprehensive child protection agenda

International Health ◽

10.1093/inthealth/ihaa050 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Silvia Logar ◽

Maggie Leese

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Child Protection ◽

State Responsibility ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Public Health Response ◽

The Public ◽

Health Response ◽

The Government ◽

Detention Facilities

Abstract Childhood detention represents an integral part of the public health response to the COVID-19 emergency. Prison conditions in Italy put detained minors at grave risk of contracting sudden acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. To date (29 April 2020), the Italian penitentiary system is housing 161 minors (147 males), most of them in pre-trial custody, as well as 50 children <3 y of age residing with their mothers in detention. Furthermore, the government reported 5265 unaccompanied minor migrants, mainly from Gambia and Egypt. The fundamental approach to be followed in childhood detention during COVID-19 is prevention of the introduction of infectious agents into detention facilities, limiting the spread within the prison and reducing the possibility of spread from the prison to the outside community. This appears challenging in countries like Italy with intense SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The current COVID-19 pandemic shows the need to provide a comprehensive childhood protection agenda, as the provision of healthcare for people in prisons and other places of detention is a state responsibility.

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Parasitose Palpebral por Carraça: Caso Clínico e Revisão da Literatura

Acta Médica Portuguesa ◽

10.20344/amp.9442 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 126

Author(s):

Jorge Moreira ◽

Tiago Maio ◽

Filipa Sampaio

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Lyme Disease ◽

Tick Infestation ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Eyelid Margin ◽

Upper Eyelid ◽

Local Reactions ◽

Tick Paralysis

Tick infestation is rarely seen in ophthalmological practice. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman who presented with edema and erythema of her right upper eyelid. Biomicroscopic examination revealed a tick firmly attached to the eyelid margin. The tick was successfully removed using fine tweezers, and within a few days, the patient had fully recovered without sequelae. Ticks are a threat to public health as they are known vectors of numerous infectious agents responsible for serious pathologies such as Lyme disease. Ticks may also induce cutaneous local reactions, and more rarely, tick paralysis. Since morbidity increases substantially with the duration of the infestation, the tick should be completely removed as soon as possible, and patients should be aware about possible signs of tick related diseases.

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Deliberate release of zoonotic agents

10.1093/med/9780198570028.003.0002 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen Palmer

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Viral Encephalitis ◽

Q Fever ◽

Animal Health ◽

Health Impact ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Water Safety ◽

Chemical Agents ◽

Or Groups ◽

Deliberate Release

Since 9/11 2001, international attention has once again focused on the risks to human and animal health from the deliberate release of infectious or toxic chemical agents. In theory any agent could be used by terrorists and disaffected people, but the most serious risk for infectious agents are mainly zoonotic (Franz et al. 1997). Three modes of exposure may be anticipated, inhalation of powder or spray or dust from explosives, direct contact or inoculation from an explosion, and ingestion. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) list 19 bioterrorism agents or groups of agents of which 14 are zoonotic. In Category A are 6 agents which can be easily disseminated or transmitted from person to person, that result in high mortality rates and have the potential for major public health impact, which might cause public panic and social disruption and which require special action from public health preparedness. Of these 6, four are zoonoses — Anthrax, Plague, Tularaemia and Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers. In Category B, are 12 groups of agents, which are moderately easy to disseminate and cause moderate morbidity. Of these 12 groups, 8 contain zoonoses: Brucellosis, Food Safety threats (e.g. Salmonella, E.coli 0157, Campylobacter), Meliodiosis, Psittacoccosis, Q Fever, Typhus, Viral encephalitis, Water safety threats (e.g. Cryptosporidium).

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Prevention of infection

10.1093/med/9780199568741.003.0349 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Tony Bentley

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Viral Infections ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Public Health Medicine ◽

Prevention Of Infection ◽

Global Issue ◽

Population Issue ◽

The Individual ◽

Healthcare Associated ◽

Individual Issue

Medicine is the science of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease; its focus is the needs of an individual patient. Public health is the science and practice of protecting and improving the health of a community—medicine on a larger scale. The aim of government should be to create the health and happiness of its people. Politics is, therefore, public health medicine on a grand scale. Likewise, prevention of infection can be seen as an individual issue, a population issue, or a global issue. The principles of prevention of infection, whether at the level of the individual patient or at the level of a population, are the avoidance of infectious agents, the maintenance of innate immunity, and the stimulation of acquired immunity. In this chapter, these principles are reviewed in relation to the prevention of cholera, polio, blood-borne viral infections, and healthcare-associated infections.

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Mathematical models of transmission and control of infectious agents

10.1093/med/9780198816805.003.0041 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 241-258

Author(s):

Alex Welte ◽

Cari van Schalkwyk

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Mathematical Modelling ◽

Mathematical Models ◽

Statistical Modelling ◽

Model Construction ◽

Primary Data ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

The Common ◽

And Control ◽

Epidemiological Situation

Indeed, the ‘heavy lifting’ of healthcare is in the care of patients, the development and distribution of vaccines, drugs and devices, and the conception and implementation of sensible systems and policies. However, in recent decades, spectacular increases in the availability of computational capacity have paved the way for mathematical modelling to play an ever-increasing role in many aspects of public health, by supporting formal analyses at various scales of the processes involved. This chapter explores a particular kind of ‘modelling’—and it is not the common (bio)statistical kind. We focus on what we would call ‘dynamical’ modelling (as opposed to ‘statistical’ modelling). This essentially entails the reduction, to mathematics, of key facts and principles inherent in the ‘processes’ or ‘mechanisms’ in an epidemiological situation. We can then manipulate these mathematical constructs, in search of insights that, while ultimately implied in the model construction, are not superficially apparent from our primary data and our intuition.

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Legal Enforcement of Xenotransplantation Public Health Safeguards

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1111/j.1748-720x.2004.tb00456.x ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 117-123 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Patrik S. Florencio ◽

Erik D. Ramanathan

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Ex Vivo ◽

Human Life ◽

Nonhuman Animal ◽

Live Cells ◽

Human Populations ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Animal Cells ◽

Legal Enforcement ◽

Human T Cell

Xenotransplantation is any transplantation, implantation, or infusion of either live cells, tissues, or organs from a nonhuman animal source, or human bodily fluids, cells, tissues, or organs that have had ex vivo contact with live nonhuman animal cells, tissues, or organs into a human recipient. Most scientists agree that clinical xenotransplantation should not be performed in the absence of accompanying public health safeguards The science upon which that consensus is based has been extensively described in the literature. By and large the most compelling reason for public health safeguards is the possible introduction of new infectious agents into the human life cycle as a result of xenotransplantation.The most frequent source of new infectious diseases in human populations is the transfer of agents, such as viruses, bacteria, or prions, from animals to man. Human diseases and infectious agents that are thought to have originated from animals include influenza, rabies, malaria, lassa fever, lyme disease, AIDS, yellow fever, tuberculosis, the human t-cell lymphotropic virus, the herpes B virus, the hantavirus, and even the bubonic and pneumonic plagues.

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Return of the Neurotropic Enteroviruses: Co-Opting Cellular Pathways for Infection

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13020166 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 166

Author(s):

Christine E. Peters ◽

Jan E. Carette

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Viral Entry ◽

Host Factors ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Organelle Biogenesis ◽

Host Proteins ◽

Cellular Receptors ◽

Comprehensive Knowledge ◽

Cellular Machinery ◽

Cellular Pathways

Enteroviruses are among the most common human infectious agents. While infections are often mild, the severe neuropathogenesis associated with recent outbreaks of emerging non-polio enteroviruses, such as EV-A71 and EV-D68, highlights their continuing threat to public health. In recent years, our understanding of how non-polio enteroviruses co-opt cellular pathways has greatly increased, revealing intricate host–virus relationships. In this review, we focus on newly identified mechanisms by which enteroviruses hijack the cellular machinery to promote their replication and spread, and address their potential for the development of host-directed therapeutics. Specifically, we discuss newly identified cellular receptors and their contribution to neurotropism and spread, host factors required for viral entry and replication, and recent insights into lipid acquisition and replication organelle biogenesis. The comprehensive knowledge of common cellular pathways required by enteroviruses could expose vulnerabilities amenable for host-directed therapeutics against a broad spectrum of enteroviruses. Since this will likely include newly arising strains, it will better prepare us for future epidemics. Moreover, identifying host proteins specific to neurovirulent strains may allow us to better understand factors contributing to the neurotropism of these viruses.

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Clinical Laboratory Biosafety Gaps: Lessons Learned from Past Outbreaks Reveal a Path to a Safer Future

Clinical Microbiology Reviews ◽

10.1128/cmr.00126-18 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nancy E. Cornish ◽

Nancy L. Anderson ◽

Diego G. Arambula ◽

Matthew J. Arduino ◽

Andrew Bryan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Patient Care ◽

Laboratory Testing ◽

Clinical Laboratory ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Infectious Agents ◽

Testing Procedures

Patient care and public health require timely, reliable laboratory testing. However, clinical laboratory professionals rarely know whether patient specimens contain infectious agents, making ensuring biosafety while performing testing procedures challenging.

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