In New Zealand, rapid, science-based risk assessment linked to early, decisive government action was critical to containing Covid-19. The country is now in the postelimination stage, which comes with ...its own uncertainties.
We estimated the case-fatality risk for coronavirus disease cases in China (3.5%); China, excluding Hubei Province (0.8%); 82 countries, territories, and areas (4.2%); and on a cruise ship (0.6%). ...Lower estimates might be closest to the true value, but a broad range of 0.25%-3.0% probably should be considered.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Michael Baker and colleagues argue that aiming for elimination of community transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus could offer important advantages over a suppression or mitigation strategy with ...ongoing transmission
Although seasonality is a defining characteristic of many infectious diseases, few studies have described and compared seasonal patterns across diseases globally, impeding our understanding of ...putative mechanisms. Here, we review seasonal patterns across five enteric zoonotic diseases: campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, vero-cytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC), cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis in the context of two primary drivers of seasonality: (i) environmental effects on pathogen occurrence and pathogen-host associations and (ii) population characteristics/behaviour.
We systematically reviewed published literature from 1960-2010, resulting in the review of 86 studies across the five diseases. The Gini coefficient compared temporal variations in incidence across diseases and the monthly seasonality index characterised timing of seasonal peaks. Consistent seasonal patterns across transnational boundaries, albeit with regional variations was observed. The bacterial diseases all had a distinct summer peak, with identical Gini values for campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis (0.22) and a higher index for VTEC (Gini 0.36). Cryptosporidiosis displayed a bi-modal peak with spring and summer highs and the most marked temporal variation (Gini = 0.39). Giardiasis showed a relatively small summer increase and was the least variable (Gini = 0.18).
Seasonal variation in enteric zoonotic diseases is ubiquitous, with regional variations highlighting complex environment-pathogen-host interactions. Results suggest that proximal environmental influences and host population dynamics, together with distal, longer-term climatic variability could have important direct and indirect consequences for future enteric disease risk. Additional understanding of the concerted influence of these factors on disease patterns may improve assessment and prediction of enteric disease burden in temperate, developed countries.
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Approaches to preventing or mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have varied markedly between nations. We examined the approach up to August 2020 taken by two jurisdictions which had ...successfully eliminated COVID-19 by this time: Taiwan and New Zealand. Taiwan reported a lower COVID-19 incidence rate (20.7 cases per million) compared with NZ (278.0 per million). Extensive public health infrastructure established in Taiwan pre-COVID-19 enabled a fast coordinated response, particularly in the domains of early screening, effective methods for isolation/quarantine, digital technologies for identifying potential cases and mass mask use. This timely and vigorous response allowed Taiwan to avoid the national lockdown used by New Zealand. Many of Taiwan's pandemic control components could potentially be adopted by other jurisdictions.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Antibiotic treatment of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis is important in acute rheumatic fever (ARF) prevention, however clinical guidelines for prescription vary. GAS carriers with acute ...viral infections may receive antibiotics unnecessarily. This review assessed the prevalence of GAS pharyngitis and carriage in different settings.
A random-effects meta-analysis was performed. Prevalence estimates for GAS+ve pharyngitis, serologically-confirmed GAS pharyngitis and asymptomatic pharyngeal carriage were generated. Findings were stratified by age group, recruitment method and country income level. Medline and EMBASE databases were searched for relevant literature published between 1 January 1946 and 7 April 2017. Studies reporting prevalence data on GAS+ve or serologically-confirmed GAS pharyngitis that stated participants exhibited symptoms of pharyngitis or upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) were included. Included studies reporting the prevalence of asymptomatic GAS carriage needed to state participants were asymptomatic.
285 eligible studies were identified. The prevalence of GAS+ve pharyngitis was 24.1% (95% CI: 22.6-25.6%) in clinical settings (which used 'passive recruitment' methods), but less in sore throat management programmes (which used 'active recruitment', 10.0%, 8.1-12.4%). GAS+ve pharyngitis was more prevalent in high-income countries (24.3%, 22.6-26.1%) compared with low/middle-income countries (17.6%, 14.9-20.7%). In clinical settings, approximately 10% of children swabbed with a sore throat have serologically-confirmed GAS pharyngitis, but this increases to around 50-60% when the child is GAS culture-positive. The prevalence of serologically-confirmed GAS pharyngitis was 10.3% (6.6-15.7%) in children from high-income countries and their asymptomatic GAS carriage prevalence was 10.5% (8.4-12.9%). A lower carriage prevalence was detected in children from low/middle income countries (5.9%, 4.3-8.1%).
In active sore throat management programmes, if the prevalence of GAS detection approaches the asymptomatic carriage rate (around 6-11%), there may be little benefit from antibiotic treatment as the majority of culture-positive patients are likely carriers.
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New Zealand's COVID‐19 elimination strategy Baker, Michael G; Kvalsvig, Amanda; Verrall, Ayesha J
Medical journal of Australia,
September 2020, Volume:
213, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
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These pediatric hypertension guidelines are an update to the 2004 "Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents." Significant changes ...in these guidelines include (1) the replacement of the term "prehypertension" with the term "elevated blood pressure," (2) new normative pediatric blood pressure (BP) tables based on normal-weight children, (3) a simplified screening table for identifying BPs needing further evaluation, (4) a simplified BP classification in adolescents ≥13 years of age that aligns with the forthcoming American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology adult BP guidelines, (5) a more limited recommendation to perform screening BP measurements only at preventive care visits, (6) streamlined recommendations on the initial evaluation and management of abnormal BPs, (7) an expanded role for ambulatory BP monitoring in the diagnosis and management of pediatric hypertension, and (8) revised recommendations on when to perform echocardiography in the evaluation of newly diagnosed hypertensive pediatric patients (generally only before medication initiation), along with a revised definition of left ventricular hypertrophy. These guidelines include 30 Key Action Statements and 27 additional recommendations derived from a comprehensive review of almost 15 000 published articles between January 2004 and July 2016. Each Key Action Statement includes level of evidence, benefit-harm relationship, and strength of recommendation. This clinical practice guideline, endorsed by the American Heart Association, is intended to foster a patient- and family-centered approach to care, reduce unnecessary and costly medical interventions, improve patient diagnoses and outcomes, support implementation, and provide direction for future research.
Despite years of fully suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV persists in its hosts and is never eradicated. One major barrier to eradication is that the virus infects multiple cell types that ...may individually contribute to HIV persistence. Tissue macrophages are critical contributors to HIV pathogenesis; however, their specific role in HIV persistence during long-term suppressive ART has not been established. Using humanized myeloid-only mice (MoM), we demonstrate that HIV infection of tissue macrophages is rapidly suppressed by ART, as reflected by a rapid drop in plasma viral load and a dramatic decrease in the levels of cell-associated viral RNA and DNA. No viral rebound was observed in the plasma of 67% of the ART-treated animals at 7 weeks after ART interruption, and no replication-competent virus was rescued from the tissue macrophages obtained from these animals. In contrast, in a subset of animals (∼33%), a delayed viral rebound was observed that is consistent with the establishment of persistent infection in tissue macrophages. These observations represent the first direct evidence, to our knowledge, of HIV persistence in tissue macrophages in vivo.
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We describe trends in acute rheumatic fever (ARF), rheumatic heart disease (RHD), and RHD deaths among population groups in New Zealand. We analyzed initial primary ARF and RHD hospitalizations ...during 2000-2018 and RHD mortality rates during 2000-2016. We found elevated rates of initial ARF hospitalizations for persons of Māori (adjusted rate ratio aRR 11.8, 95% CI 10.0-14.0) and Pacific Islander (aRR 23.6, 95% CI 19.9-27.9) ethnicity compared with persons of European/other ethnicity. We also noted higher rates of initial RHD hospitalization for Māori (aRR 3.2, 95% CI 2.9-3.5) and Pacific Islander (aRR 4.6, 95% CI 4.2-5.1) groups and RHD deaths among these groups (Māori aRR 12.3, 95% CI 10.3-14.6, and Pacific Islanders aRR 11.2, 95% CI 9.1-13.8). Rates also were higher in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. To curb high rates of ARF and RHD, New Zealand must address increasing social and ethnic inequalities.
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