[Correspondence] Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions: an urgent requirement in post-flood Nepal
Another natural disaster struck in Nepal between Aug 11 and Aug 12, 2017, when heavy rainfall caused extensive flooding in 21 Terai (lowland) districts bordering India. By Aug 16, 2017, 75 000 households had been affected and 123 people had been killed.1 (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Om Prasad Gautam, Yael Velleman, Krishna Prasad Paudel, Meghnath Dhimal, Val Curtis Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Correspondence] The 2017 Dhaka chikungunya outbreak
Chikungunya is an arboviral disease transmitted between human beings via the bites of infected female aedes mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus).1 Millions of chikungunya cases have been reported across more than 60 countries, and this virus is responsible for devastating epidemics across the globe.2 Chikungunya is characterised by fever, nausea, fatigue, myalgia, headache, rashes, prolonged joint pain, and arthralgia.2 (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Iqbal Kabir, Megnath Dhimal, Ruth M üller, Swagata Banik, Ubydul Haque Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research
[Comment] Threats of vector-borne zoonotic disease in Europe: dogs, drosophilids, and Oriental eye worm
Mosquito and tick ecology has changed in parts of Europe over the past 20 years and threats to the UK from diseases such as dengue, West Nile virus, tick-borne encephalitis, and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever have to be considered.1 But health professionals must also be aware of increasing risks from less well known vector-borne zoonoses that have emerged in Europe during the same timeframe. These zoonotic conditions include certain parasitic disorders of dogs that are well known to veterinarians, such as visceral leishmaniasis and dirofilariasis. (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: John W McGarry, John Graham-Brown, Monika Pasztor Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Comment] Infectious disease trends in China since the SARS outbreak
The 2002 –03 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak has changed public health in many ways in China and worldwide. This change is reflected in China's effective control of H1N1, H5N1, and H7N9 influenza outbreaks; response to imported cases of Zika virus infection, Rift Valley fever, and Yellow fever; and China's active involvement in the fight against Ebola virus disease in west Africa in 2014. After the SARS outbreak, intensified actions have been taken in China to reduce the burden of infectious diseases, such as substantial investment in public health, capacity building for laboratory testing, surveillance...
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Zhongjie Li, George F Gao Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Editorial] The imperative of vaccination
Vaccination is one of the most effective public health interventions and it has been instrumental in saving lives and greatly changing the burden of many infectious diseases over the past 100 years. However, the very effectiveness of vaccines has made some diseases rare, and most of us are less likely to witness first hand the devastating consequences of vaccine-preventable diseases. This fact, combined with misinformation, suspicion about vaccines, and mistrust of governments and health authorities, have prompted many parents to override concerns about the diseases themselves and oppose the vaccination of their children. ...
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: The Lancet Infectious Diseases Tags: Editorial Source Type: research
[Personal View] Surveillance for control of antimicrobial resistance
Antimicrobial resistance poses a growing threat to public health and the provision of health care. Its surveillance should provide up-to-date and relevant information to monitor the appropriateness of therapy guidelines, antibiotic formulary, antibiotic stewardship programmes, public health interventions, infection control policies, and antimicrobial development. In Europe, although the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network provides annual reports on monitored resistant bacteria, national surveillance efforts are still fragmented and heterogeneous, and have substantial structural problems and issues with l...
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Evelina Tacconelli, Frangiscos Sifakis, Stephan Harbarth, Remco Schrijver, Maaike van Mourik, Andreas Voss, Mike Sharland, Nithya Babu Rajendran, Jes ús Rodríguez-Baño, EPI-Net COMBACTE-MAGNET Group Tags: Personal View Source Type: research
[Articles] Prolonged versus short-term intravenous infusion of antipseudomonal β-lactams for patients with sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials
Prolonged infusion of antipseudomonal β-lactams for the treatment of patients with sepsis was associated with significantly lower mortality than short-term infusion. Further studies in specific subgroups of patients according to age, sepsis severity, degree of renal dysfunction, and immunocompetence are warranted. (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Konstantinos Z Vardakas, Georgios L Voulgaris, Athanasios Maliaros, George Samonis, Matthew E Falagas Tags: Articles Source Type: research
[Comment] β-lactam prolonged infusion: it's time to implement!
In the Lancet Infectious Diseases, Konstantinos Z Vardakas and colleagues1 show that prolonged (extended or continuous) infusion of antipseudomonal β-lactams reduced mortality compared with intermittent dosing in a systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 25, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Mical Paul, Ursula Theuretzbacher Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Review] Protection of the house against Chagas disease, dengue, leishmaniasis, and lymphatic filariasis: a systematic review
In light of the recent Zika virus outbreak, vector control has received renewed interest. However, which interventions are efficacious and community effective and how to best deliver them remains unclear. Following PRISMA guidelines, we did a systematic review to assess evidence for applied vector control interventions providing protection against Chagas disease, dengue, leishmaniasis, and lymphatic filariasis at the household level. We searched for published literature and grey literature between Jan 1, 1980, and Nov 30, 2015, and updated our search on April 2, 2017, using databases including the Cochrane, Embase, LILACS,...
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 23, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Olaf Horstick, Silvia Runge-Ranzinger Tags: Review Source Type: research
[Review] The WHO public health approach to HIV treatment and care: looking back and looking ahead
In 2006, WHO set forth its vision for a public health approach to delivering antiretroviral therapy. This approach has been broadly adopted in resource-poor settings and has provided the foundation for scaling up treatment to over 19 ·5 million people. There is a global commitment to end the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030 and, to support this goal, there are opportunities to adapt the public health approach to meet the ensuing challenges. These challenges include the need to improve identification of people wit h HIV infection through expanded approaches to testing; further simplify and improve treatment ...
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 20, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Nathan Ford, Andrew Ball, Rachel Baggaley, Marco Vitoria, Daniel Low-Beer, Martina Penazzato, Lara Vojnov, Silvia Bertagnolio, Vincent Habiyambere, Meg Doherty, Gottfried Hirnschall Tags: Review Source Type: research
[Articles] A genetically inactivated two-component acellular pertussis vaccine, alone or combined with tetanus and reduced-dose diphtheria vaccines, in adolescents: a phase 2/3, randomised controlled non-inferiority trial
The new TdaP(PTgen/FHA) vaccine is safe and induces higher pertussis responses 28 days after vaccination than does the available licensed Tdap booster vaccine. Results of our trial led to the licensure of new acellular pertussis vaccines containing genetically inactivated pertussis toxin in Thailand. The availability of recombinant monovalent pertussis vaccines that induce high antibody responses provides the medical community and consumers with the opportunity to vaccinate against pertussis when immunisation against diphtheria and tetanus is not required or not desired. (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 20, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Sirintip Sricharoenchai, Chukiat Sirivichayakul, Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit, Punnee Pitisuttithum, Jittima Dhitavat, Arom Pitisuthitham, Wanatpreeya Phongsamart, Kobporn Boonnak, Keswadee Lapphra, Yupa Sabmee, Orasri Wittawatmongkol, Pailinrut Chinwangso, I Tags: Articles Source Type: research
[Comment] Acellular pertussis vaccines: where to go to?
Since their introduction in the 1940s and 1950s, pertussis vaccines (mostly in combination with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids as diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccines) have been very efficient in reducing pertussis mortality and morbidity in infants and young children. WHO estimates suggest that between 1999 and 2014, more than 100 000 infant deaths could have been averted mainly by increased coverage of pertussis vaccination.1 Pertussis vaccines come in two varieties: one is made of whole-cell killed Bordetella pertussis cells, consequently called whole-cell pertussis vaccine, and the other is made from one to f...
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 20, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Carl Heinz Wirsing von K önig Tags: Comment Source Type: research
[Corrections] Corrections
Weber WP, Mujagic E, Zwahlen M. Timing of surgical antimicrobial prophylaxis: a phase 3 randomised controlled trial. Lancet Infect Dis 2017; published online April 3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30176-7 —Urs von Holzen was missing from the author list of this Article. This correction has been made to the online version as of Oct 20, 2017 (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 20, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Corrections Source Type: research
[Articles] Cost-effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention in men who have sex with men in the UK: a modelling study and health economic evaluation
This analysis suggests that the introduction of a PrEP programme for MSM in the UK is cost-effective and possibly cost-saving in the long term. A reduction in the cost of antiretroviral drugs (including the drugs used for PrEP) would substantially shorten the time for cost savings to be realised. (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 17, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Valentina Cambiano, Alec Miners, David Dunn, Sheena McCormack, Koh Jun Ong, O Noel Gill, Anthony Nardone, Monica Desai, Nigel Field, Graham Hart, Valerie Delpech, Gus Cairns, Alison Rodger, Andrew N Phillips Tags: Articles Source Type: research
[Comment] Pre-exposure prophylaxis is cost-effective for HIV in the UK
At the International AIDS Society (IAS) conference in Paris, France, in July, 2017, new data were presented showing a large reduction in HIV diagnoses in the UK's largest sexual health clinic. 56 Dean Street in Soho (London, UK) saw a 42% drop in new diagnoses between 2015 and 2016.1,2 Similarly promising findings were reported in studies of clinics in France and Australia. This reduction is likely to be due to increased testing, earlier diagnosis, and immediate initiation onto HIV treatment at diagnosis,3 as well as increased availability of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. (Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases)
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - October 17, 2017 Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Paul Revill, Ellen Dwyer Tags: Comment Source Type: research
