Community Event-Based Surveillance for Ebola Virus Disease in Sierra Leone: Implementation of a National-Level System During a Crisis
Conclusion
The implementation of CEBS has shown that a national system can be implemented at scale and that community volunteers are capable of detecting and reporting important health related events in their communities. Participation of community leaders in the implementation process proved to be an important step in ensuring that communities are supportive of the program and Community Health Monitors are able to carry out their responsibilities effectively. The experience with CEBS implementation shows that planning to implement a large-scale community based program in two months across many partners requires well-plann...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - December 7, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Laura Miller Source Type: research
Laboratory Investigation of Salmonella enterica serovar Poona Outbreak in California: Comparison of Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) Results
Conclusions
Real-time PFGE and WGS genotyping results from this Salmonella Poona outbreak provided concordant assignment of isolates to the outbreak cluster by both methods. However, the WGS allowed for a more unequivocal determination of the genetic relatedness of the isolates than PFGE. WGS provided additional information regarding MLST type, pathogenicity genes, and bacteriophage content of the isolates. WGS data obtained independently at two laboratories showed complete agreement.
Data Availability Statement
The raw reads for sequenced here samples were submitted to NCBI SRA archive under accession numbers SRR2566826-...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - November 22, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: vkozyreva Source Type: research
Identifying Candidate Targets of Immune Responses in Zika Virus Based on Homology to Epitopes in Other Flavivirus Species
Discussion
The current outbreak of ZIKV infections has resulted in a massive effort to accelerate the development of ZIKV specific diagnostics and vaccines. These efforts would benefit greatly from the definition of the specific epitope targets of immune responses in ZIKV, but given the relatively recent emergence of ZIKV as a pandemic threat, few such data are available. We used a large body of epitope data for other Flaviviruses that was available from the IEDB for a comparative analysis against the ZIKV proteome in order to project targets of immune responses in ZIKV and their potential properties.
The most common app...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - November 15, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Kerrie Vaughan Source Type: research
Pok émon Go and Exposure to Mosquito-Borne Diseases: How Not to Catch ‘Em All
In conclusion, as millions of people continue to explore augmented reality games such as Pokémon Go each day, it will be important for public health officials and others to think creatively about how to minimize risks and maximize opportunities associated with this fundamentally new and distinct activity.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Ethics Statement
The individuals in this manuscript have given written informed consent (as outlined in PLOS consent form) to publish these case details.
Corresponding Author
Rachel Oidtman, E-mail: roidtman@nd.edu
Alex Perkins...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - November 15, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: roidtman Source Type: research
The Ebola Crisis and the Corresponding Public Behavior: A System Dynamics Approach
Conclusion and Future Work
It is vital to consider how the behavior of communities plays an important role in the spread of Ebola in West Africa. This extends not only to the disease itself but also to the contagion of irrational behaviors. Not only the public, but also high ranking officials, scientists, and even policy makers are at risk for presumptive and consequently dangerous behavior; therefore, it is necessary to combine physical disease spread along with behavioral practices that hinder or spread the disease. As the United Nations head of the Ebola mission (Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed) attested, combatting the Ebola ...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - November 3, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Nasser Sharareh Source Type: research
Series of Norovirus Outbreaks Caused by Consumption of Green Coral Lettuce, Denmark, April 2016
The objective of this investigation was to establish a possible food source of the outbreak. For the cohort studies, a case was defined as a person attending the common event and developing vomiting and/or diarrhea within three days.
Upstream tracing of lettuce from all outbreak settings was conducted by way of collecting and comparing purchase and delivery information in the period of one week prior to the outbreaks. Tracing was performed through the distribution chain to the packer in Denmark and from there to the wholesaler in France. This was then followed by forward tracing of the incriminated batches of lettuce, re...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - October 4, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Luise Source Type: research
Experiences and Psychosocial Impact of West Africa Ebola Deployment on US Health Care Volunteers
CONCLUSIONS
The urge to do something to help in an international medical crisis is understandable and admirable, but the adverse impacts reported by participants here – at every stage of deployment, suggest that preparedness for these missions needs improvement and at the very least, high risk missions should be limited to more seasoned and well trained (for conditions in the field) personnel. While volunteering for a medical mission during a health crisis can be very rewarding, both professionally and personally, it can also be very disruptive and impactful. All volunteers for high risk missions must be made fully aware...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - September 21, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Robyn Gershon Source Type: research
Isolation of Zika Virus Imported from Tonga into Australia
This study and case reporting was approved by the Forensic and Scientific Services Human Ethics Committee.
Results
Of all isolation attempts, only the serum-derived SMB was positive, with a Ct value of 29. To further amplify viable virus, the serum-derived SMB was then inoculated in duplicate onto C6/36 cells and intrathoracically into pools of ≤10 Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. Cell and supernatant fractions from cultures and mosquitoes were individually screened by RT-PCR. Mean±SD Ct values for the culture samples were 16.13±0.74 and 18.76±0.62 for the cells and supernatant, respectively, and a mean±SD Ct of 18.22±1.27 ...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - September 7, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: pyke Source Type: research
Lessons from Ebola: Sources of Outbreak Information and the Associated Impact on UC Irvine and Ohio University College Students
This study had limitations that are important to consider. First, this study was conducted at two universities and the sample of students surveyed was a fraction of the estimated 17.3 million American undergraduates.15 Therefore, these results may not be representative of all college campuses in America, and its interpretation from a national standpoint is limited. Second, although carefully designed, the survey was a newly developed questionnaire and additional studies are necessary to assess the validity of the measures. Lastly, this cross-sectional study assessed students’ main information sources during the Ebola out...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - August 25, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Thrissia Koralek Source Type: research
Invasion Dynamics of Teratogenic Infections in Light of Rubella Control: Implications for Zika Virus
Discussion
Our analysis indicates similarities with core predictions that emerge from the existing body of work on rubella across the two major scenarios for ZIKV transmission. Is ZIKV more like dengue (scenario 1) or WNV (scenario 2)? The rarity of human ZIKV isolates compared to the number of infected individuals (Lanciotti et al.20 failed to make any isolates during the Yap outbreak) suggests a low and/or transient viremia, making onward transmission seem unlikely, suggestive more of a similarity with WNV. This accords with historic evidence of the importance of zoonotic reservoirs, e.g., in many parts of West Africa 15...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - August 16, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: cmetcalf at princeton.edu Source Type: research
Genetic Studies of Vibrio cholerae in South West Cameroon —A Phylogenetic Analysis of Isolates from the 2010-2011 Epidemic
Conclusions
This study provides data on whole genome sequence analysis of V. cholerae isolates from the South West Region-Cameroon. While the epidemic curve shows multiple peaks, there was no evidence of seasonality, nor has there been major recurrence of illness in subsequent years: i.e., we did not see the annual seasonal epidemics described in Asia and other regions of the world. Movement of strains through local environmental reservoirs might be expected to show correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance of sampling locations, with genetic heterogeneity generally increasing with progressively more dis...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - August 12, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Ngwa Source Type: research
Taste and Safety: Is the Exceptional Cuisine Offered by High End Restaurants Paralleled by High Standards of Food Safety?
DISCUSSION
The Top 50 restaurants in England were more likely to have had reported outbreaks from 2000-2014 than other food premises, and there was a trend for higher rated position among the Top 50 to be associated with higher probability of reported outbreaks, although the latter findings were non-significant at the 5% level.
Limitations of this study which should be considered when interpreting these findings. Detected and reported outbreaks were the measure of food safety accessible to us across both the Top 50 restaurants and other registered food premises in England. Analyses identifying a 39 fold higher rate of re...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - August 2, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Sanch Kanagarajah Source Type: research
Invasive Meningococcal Meningitis Serogroup C Outbreak in Northwest Nigeria, 2015 – Third Consecutive Outbreak of a New Strain
Conclusion and Recommendations
This outbreak was the largest caused by N. meningitidis serogroup C ever documented in this part of the meningitis belt in northwest Nigeria. Since meningococcal meningitis ACWY polysaccharide vaccine should provide protection for at least 2 to 3 years,23,24 it can be anticipated that the geographic spread and case numbers should be reduced in the next few meningitis seasons. Nonetheless, to help further curtail outbreaks of NmC, a vaccination campaign with a long-lasting conjugate vaccine similar to MenAfriVac® should be considered in the region.
Competing Interests
The authors have d...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - July 7, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Jaime Chow Source Type: research
Invasive Meningococcal Meningitis Serogroup C Outbreak in Northwest Nigeria, 2015 – Third Consecutive Outbreak of a New Strain
Conclusion and Recommendations
This outbreak was the largest caused by N. meningitidis serogroup C ever documented in this part of the meningitis belt in northwest Nigeria. Since meningococcal meningitis ACWY polysaccharide vaccine should provide protection for at least 2 to 3 years,23,24 it can be anticipated that the geographic spread and case numbers should be reduced in the next few meningitis seasons. Nonetheless, to help further curtail outbreaks of NmC, a vaccination campaign with a long-lasting conjugate vaccine similar to MenAfriVac® should be considered in the region.
Competing Interests
The authors have d...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - July 7, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Jaime Chow Source Type: research
Utility of a Dengue-Derived Monoclonal Antibody to Enhance Zika Infection In Vitro
Discussion
When determining the level of enhancement DENV2 strain 16803 achieved in the presence of 4G2, we found significant differences between titers from the treatment group with the antibody and the control group without the antibody (Table 1). In both the supernatant and pellet, the control group produced little or no plaques while the treatment group had countable plaques, which resulted in a mean value significant from the control group (p-values <0.05). Mean viral titers in the supernatant and pellet, respectively, increased more than 140-fold and 110-fold when pre-treated with antibody.
Table 1
Ave...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - July 5, 2016 Category: Epidemiology Authors: acharl5 at lsu.edu Source Type: research
