Dracunculiasis Eradication: Are We There Yet? Hopkins, Donald R; Ruiz-Tiben, Ernesto; Eberhard, Mark L ...
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene,
01/2018, Letnik:
99, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This report summarizes the status of the global Dracunculiasis Eradication Program as of the end of 2017. Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) has been eliminated from 19 of 21 countries where it was ...endemic in 1986, when an estimated 3.5 million cases occurred worldwide. Only Chad and Ethiopia reported cases in humans, 15 each, in 2017. Infections of animals, mostly domestic dogs, with
were reported in those two countries and also in Mali. Insecurity and infections in animals are the two main obstacles remaining to interrupting dracunculiasis transmission completely.
The U.S. military offers comprehensive scholarships to medical students to help offset costs in exchange for either reserve or active duty service commitments. Our goal was to describe to what degree ...newly admitted students to Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine were aware of and interested in these opportunities.
We surveyed 176 newly admitted students at the beginning and immediately following a presentation on military medicine opportunities. We collected anonymous paper surveys from program attendees and entered the data into Stata v13.1. The project was submitted for institutional review board review and deemed to not involve human subjects. Tests of association were performed using Chi-square test of independence and Fisher's exact test where needed.
Our cohort was 49% female, 51% male, and over 90% were less than 30 years of age. Only 14% reported having family involved in the military. Our results indicated that over 90% of students were aware of these programs but less than 3% took advantage of the offerings. Despite 65% reporting somewhat or significant concerns over debt, financial concerns were not statistically associated with scholarship interest level. Instead, having a family member in the military was the most significant positive predictor of interest (47% compared with 17%, p < 0.01). Among those expressing disinterest, 66% cited apprehension over control of their lives as their primary concern.
Recruiters may wish to emphasize benefits of military service aside from financial support. Career vignettes and summaries may offer better insight into the service experience for those lacking familiarity thereby potentially increasing interest and applications. Focus groups with current scholarship awardees may inform recruitment strategies.
We determined the prevalence of mandatory influenza and tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination policies for staff in Michigan hospitals and factors ...affecting policy implementation. Forty-one percent of responders reported a mandatory influenza vaccination policy, and 11% reported a mandatory Tdap vaccination policy. The support of hospital leadership is critical to policy implementation and overcoming barriers.
Physicians can play an important role in smoking cessation because they have frequent contact with smokers and because most smokers believe that a physician's advice is important in the decision to ...quit. Therefore, to determine smokers' perceptions of physician involvement in smoking cessation, we analyzed aggregate data from two random statewide surveys of 5875 Michigan adults. Of smokers who had seen a physician in the previous year, only 44% reported that they had ever been told to quit smoking by a physician. Young male smokers were the least likely (30%) to have been told to quit. Smokers who were hypertensive, obese, diabetic, sedentary, or users of oral contraceptives were no more likely to have been told to quit than smokers without these additional cardiovascular risks. Conversely, smokers who had survived a myocardial infarction or stroke were more likely to have been told to quit than smokers who had not suffered these events (73% vs 43%). Most smokers do not perceive physicians to be even minimally involved in their efforts to quit. Physicians need to increase their efforts in counseling smokers to quit before smoking-related diseases result, especially for smokers with additional risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Clostridium perfringens food poisoning usually occurs after animal protein foods such as meat or poultry are consumed. In November 1990, an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness occurred among ...attendees at a conference of cake decorators held in Michigan. All 42 conference attendees were surveyed. Thirty-two of 42 (76%) attendees reported gastrointestinal symptoms. The median incubation period was 6.5 hours (range, 1.5-15 hours). Ill persons were almost five times more likely to have consumed minestrone soup than were those who were not ill (relative risk = 4.92, 95% confidence interval 1.23-infinity). Bacteriologic analysis identified C. perfringens in the soup and in 11 of 12 stool specimens from ill persons. The soup was cooked 2 days prior to serving and was slowly cooled before refrigeration; it was briefly reheated on the day served. Failure to monitor time and temperature controls during the cooling and reheating of the soup probably allowed for C. perfringens proliferation in the minestrone soup. This investigation demonstrated that nonanimal protein sources, such as legumes, can support substantial C. perfringens growth and should be regarded as potential vehicles in C. perfringens outbreaks.
Earlier he was a medical epidemiologist with the Michigan Department of Public Health and an Epidemic Intelligence Officer (EIS) officer in preventive medicine here at the Centers for Disease Control ...and Prevention (CDC). Prior posts include Senior Executive Services (SES) positions in the Office of the Assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Office of the General Counsel for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Executive secretariat of Health and Human Services, and attorney on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources.
Seroprevalence surveys of incoming inmates provide useful sentinel information on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates among groups that practice HIV-associated high-risk behaviors. In ...addition, such data are beneficial to corrections officials in the formulation of institutional policies to prevent HIV infection. Inmates entering the Michigan corrections system from December 1987 to March 1988 participated in blind, anonymous serosurveys for HIV infection. Eight of 802 entering inmates (1.0 percent) were seropositive: most seropositive persons reported intravenous drug use. The most common risk behaviors reported by study participants were intravenous drug use (20.0 percent), multiple sexual partners (37.1 percent), and infrequent (that is, never or seldom) use of condoms (82.6 percent). Women reported the highest rates of intravenous drug use (35.1 percent) and needle-sharing (19.4 percent). Results from this study indicate that in spite of wide-spread HIV-associated risk behaviors, the extent of HIV-serospositivity among incoming inmates in Michigan is relatively low. Such data suggest that there is still time to impact the course of the AIDS epidemic among high-risk groups in States where the prevalence of HIV infection is relatively low. The data also indicate that the potential for HIV spread in correctional facilities is noteworthy and that HIV prevention education and substance abuse treatment services are needed in corrections facilities.
Factors contributing to students' compliance with mass vaccination programs during meningococcal outbreaks have not been well described. A 1997 mass vaccination campaign at Michigan State University ...provided an opportunity to study such factors. Of 34 024 students in the target population, 17 538 (51.5%) were vaccinated in 5 days. Vaccination rates were higher for women (47.9%) than for men (43.1 %) and higher for on-campus residents (65.3%) than for off-campus residents (35.6%). For each year of students' age beyond 19, the adjusted odds of vaccination were reduced by 0.82. Adjusted odds ratios for vaccination, with White students as the reference group at 1.0, were 1.33 for Asian American students, 0.97 (not significant) for Hispanic students, 0.82 for African American students, and 0.80 for Native American students. Students from the Colleges of Business, Engineering, Communication, and Natural Science had the highest vaccination rates; those from the College of Arts and Letters had the lowest rates.
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