Global commercial passenger airlines and travel health information regarding infection control and the prevention of infectious disease: What's in a website?

Commercial airlines websites (n Z 121) providing COVID-19 IPC information were examined. Recommended readability targets not reached. Only 1 / 4 of airline IPC-related websites examined had good readability. Mean Flesch Reading Ease score Z 54.1 (Target >60); Mean Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Z 9 (Target <8). Need for further work to improve readability of IPC information on airline websites.

In the NHS and across all four UK countries, nurses at all levels working with the multidisciplinary team contribute positively to the control and prevention of infection. In addition to the recent publication of the epic3 Guidelines, there are numerous other guidelines and policies in place emphasising the importance of the nurse’s role in the context of prevention and control of infection. In Scotland in particular, the NHS Scotland Health Department Letter, NHS HDL (2005) 7, emphasises the need to restore public confidence by achieving tangible improvements in infection control and standards of cleaning. In order to assist this process, senior charge nurses (SCNs) receive infection control safe patient environment audits based on the Infection Prevention Society’s template, which are carried out in every ward and department at least once a year. Across the UK, nurses along with colleagues in estates and facilities are also required to populate and complete action/improvement plans to address any issues identified. The results of the infection control (IC) audits are included in the performance management review for all wards/departments across the NHS. In addition, SCNs in Scotland are required to participate in and sign off the results of audits conducted to comply with the 2010 Monitoring Framework for NHS Scotland National Cleaning Services Specification and Estates HAI Issues. Standard infection control precautions (SICPs) must be applied to prevent cross transmission from both recognised and unrecognised sources of infection (and transmission-based precautions (TBPs) should be applied in cases such as when a patient has an infectious disease, e.g. influenza, MRSA, etc). SICPs are basic infection prevention and control measures of which there are ten elements as follows: ■ Patient placement ■ Hand hygiene ■ Respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette ■ Management of care equipment ■ Control of the environment ■ Safe management of linen ■ Management of blood and body fluids ■ Safe disposal of waste ■ Occupational exposure management (e.g. sharps) ■ Personal protective equipment.

1. Timothy R. Shope, MD, MPH* 1. *Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. * Abbreviations: AAP: : American Academy of Pediatrics CFOC3: : Caring for Our Children , 3rd ed ECE: : early care and education RSV: : respiratory syncytial virus Out-of-home care and education are the norms for most young children and lead to increased exposure to infectious diseases. Pediatricians need to be aware of strategies to reduce the risk of infection and guidelines for determining exclusion and return to care for mildly ill children who participate in group care arrangements. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Recognize the risks of infectious diseases in children who participate in early care and education programs. 2. Understand methods for reducing infectious diseases in early care and education settings. 3. Identify which infectious diseases require exclusion from early care and education programs. Two-thirds of children younger than 6 years participate in nonparental out-of-home early education and child care. Demographic trends during the past several decades reflect an increased desire and need to work for men and women who are parents. During the first 2 years of participation, children enrolled in early care and education (ECE) programs experience a higher incidence of respiratory and diarrheal infections, otitis media, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria compared with their peers primarily cared for at home. The types of infection generally reflect common respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses in circulation in the community. However, there are some infectious diseases that can cause outbreaks or clusters of infections in ECE settings. When ill children are excluded from an ECE facility, parents may miss work, lose income, and seek health care services in an effort to return their children to child care. Pediatricians need to be aware of the infectious disease risks of child care attendance and various strategies for reducing them. In addition, pediatricians need to be knowledgeable about rational exclusion and return …

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) represent a key tool in modern research in veterinary epidemiology, enabling precise integration, analysis, and visualization of spatial data related to the spread and control of infectious animal diseases. QGIS is a free and open-source software platform used for map creation, spatial analysis, and data processing relevant to the surveillance and control of infectious diseases in domestic animals. The application of QGIS technology enables the identification of spatial patterns in the spread of infectious disease agents, identification of high-risk areas, and the assessment of various environmental factors that may influence transmission pathways and the spread of infectious diseases. QGIS can be used for planning and implementing biosecurity measures in different production systems, as well as for preparing and conducting vaccination campaigns, leading to more effective surveillance, control, and prevention of infectious diseases in domestic animals. The study presents practical examples of QGIS applications in veterinary epidemiology, with a particular focus on the spatial spread analysis of African swine fever (ASF) in the Republic of Serbia. QGIS was used to perform spatial analysis of risk factors such as the number of pigs in various regions and the structure of farms. This approach enabled the identification of potential high-risk zones and improved understanding of population dynamics in ASF spread. The analysis was supported by statistical data processing, including visualization with pie charts integrated into spatial maps, providing a clearer overview of risk factors. This approach may contribute to more informed decision-making in the control and prevention of infectious diseases in domestic animals. Geospatial analyses can play a significant role in national plans for the control and prevention of infectious diseases in domestic animals. Therefore, it is essential that the use of such tools be actively considered as part of national programs for the control, prevention, and eradication of infectious animal diseases.

Health system quality in the time of COVID-19

Do established infection prevention and control measures prevent spread of SARS-CoV-2 to the hospital environment beyond the patient room?

Infectious pathology continues to occupy one of the leading places in the structure of causes of death worldwide and in developing countries prevails over somatic. The most cost-effective way to prevent infectious diseases is vaccination. However, the use of vaccines cannot be implemented to combat all known infectious diseases, given their massive nature and often occurring polyetiology. In this regard, non-specific prevention is of particular relevance. In order to systematize and generalize the data of the scientific literature on methods and means of non-specific prevention, as well as to assess their effectiveness, a search for literary sources using electronic bibliographic resources was carried out https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ and https://elibrary.ru/ according to the keywords «non-specific prevention», «prevention of infections». The analysis of scientific works made it possible to evaluate non-specific prevention from the standpoint of classical epidemiology and the population approach to the organization of epidemiological studies and planning of preventive measures. The measures aimed at the source of infection, the mechanism of transmission and the susceptible organism in relation to different groups of infection are considered. Priority preventive and anti-epidemic measures were identified in relation to infections with aerosol, fecal-oral, contact and transmissible transmission mechanisms, and their effectiveness was evaluated. Special attention is paid to measures for the prevention of zoonotic and natural focal infections, as well as measures for the sanitary protection of the territory of the state from the import and spread of infectious diseases. The applicability of non-specific prevention of infectious morbidity in the conditions of the emergence of new biological threats is considered on the example of a new coronavirus infection COVID-19. It is established that the scientifically based tactics and methodology of non-specific prevention of infectious diseases are the property of domestic and world epidemiology, and its effectiveness has been tested by time and does not lose relevance today. The risk of new threats indicates that the improvement of this approach is a promising direction for the prevention of infectious diseases.

With the acceleration of urbanization and the increase of population mobility, the public health and safety situation in the main urban area of Chongqing, as a modern metropolis with rapid economic development and dense population, has become increasingly complex and severe. The outbreak and spread of infectious diseases pose a serious threat to the lives and health of community residents and social stability, so it is crucial to strengthen the research on the prevention and control system of infectious diseases in grassroots community health service centers. Grassroots community health service centers in the main urban areas of Chongqing are the foundation and frontier of the entire public health prevention and control system, which is directly related to the health level of community residents and community public health safety. In the current global context of multiple, new, and frequent outbreaks of infectious diseases, it has become imperative to strengthen the construction of the infectious disease prevention and control system of grassroots community health service centers to improve the effectiveness and level of infectious disease prevention and control. This study will focus on the infectious disease prevention and control system of grassroots community health centers in the main urban areas of Chongqing, aiming to deeply analyze its composition structure, functional positioning, operation mechanism, personnel quality and facilities and equipment. Through the study and analysis of the infectious disease prevention and control system, existing problems and bottlenecks will be identified, and feasible and operable optimization suggestions will be made to promote the improvement and enhancement of the infectious disease prevention and control system. The significance of this study is not only to provide scientific basis and practical guidance for the improvement of the infectious disease prevention and control system in the main urban area of Chongqing, but also to provide reference and experience sharing for similar problems in other cities and regions, so as to jointly promote the modernization and standardization of the infectious disease prevention and control system of China's grassroots community health service centers, in order to ensure the health and safety of the community residents.

Viruses, especially single-stranded RNA viruses, have always been a pathogenic menace as they cause emerging infectious diseases such as Zika, Ebola, Bird Flu, Chikungunya, Dengue, MERS, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Mokeypox, Marburg, Polio, and others. Of note, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Delta and Omicron variants have posed significant global health impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic, co-circulation, and co-infections caused emergence of recombinant and hybrid variants, and eventually leading to different waves of surge in cases due to evasion of the vaccine (vaccine breakthrough) and infection induced immunity1. Currently, Omicron subvariants and lineages such as BA.1, BA.2, BA.3, BA.4, BA.5, and then BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BA.4.6, BF.7, BA.2.75.2, XBB.1 and BF.7 have created additional health burden, revealing escape from vaccine and viral infection induced protective immunity1–4. A significant surge in COVID-19 cases has been seen from time to time in 2022, and more recently, cases of COVID-19 are again being observed to be rising in a few countries, especially China, evidencing an unprecedented high rise owing to the Omicron BF.7 subvariant and thus posing fears of the feasibility of driving a new wave of pandemic ahead4,5. Therefore, while transmissibility and disease severity of most recently emerged Omicron subvariants are still being investigated, it is strongly encouraged to resume appropriate COVID-19 behavior protocols, adopt recommended prevention and control measures, especially airborne and contact precautions for avoiding infection, and also consider the significance of increasing vigilance and imposing restrictions on international travel, may be partial as deemed fit from time to time, unless and until the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic comes to an end. Many factors contribute to the emergence of viruses. Human factors include urbanization, globalization, immune status, demographics, and international travel. Environmental factors include weather and climate changes (El Niño effects), river damming (which affects the amount and distribution of possible viral vectors or hosts), tropical deforestation (forcing human-vector contact), ecological interactions, pollution, and disturbances to the equilibrium. Viral factors include the genetic makeup of the virus, viral genetic variations (mutation, reassortment, and recombination), and specific changes (antigenic shift and drift in the influenza virus). It is imperative to mention, that emerging viral diseases are zoonoses, which are predominantly spread by arthropods and nonhuman primates6. The emergence can be explained by the phenomenon of 'Microbial traffic' which refers to the mechanism through which infectious organisms can spread from animals to people or from isolated groups into new populations. A variety of activities boost microbial movement, promoting emergence and epidemics. In certain cases, the agents spread from their native habitat into the human population due to the many similarities. In other circumstances, infections that are already present in geographically isolated groups are given a chance to spread further. Unexpectedly, human actions often lead to the genesis of these outbreaks; occasionally, natural factors like climatic shifts can also play a role. The spread of new and re-emerging infectious illnesses throughout the world is facilitated in large part by international travel, the most recent great example being the COVID-19 pandemic7–9. The importation of infectious diseases has long been a concern that is disregarded in countries with developing economies, despite the fact that it poses a serious health issue Increases in the incidence of imported infectious diseases may be linked to the boom in worldwide travel and globalization. However, monitoring programs have not reflected the rise in imported infectious disease incidences because they do not adequately capture complete epidemiological data10,11. Most new infectious disease outbreaks start in animals, and this trend is growing as a result of human activity, including increased mobility and globalization, and shifting environmental conditions, such as climate change and global warming. The most vulnerable populations, vectors of transmission, fatality rate, and transmissibility (typically expressed as a basic reproduction number) vary greatly between different viral disease epidemics12. Despite these variations, policy responses to viral epidemics tend to be consistent over time and across countries. These responses include social isolation, quarantine, school closures, and information campaigns, as well as vector control campaigns for vector-borne viral diseases, personal protection, and vaccines. Strict mobility and travel limitations are being implemented for illnesses with a high potential for geographic spread coupled with significant case mortality13,14, and full high limitations as like during COVID-19 pandemic7,8. As the world becomes more interconnected and mobile, international travel and trade have become increasingly important in shaping the spread and resurgence of infectious illnesses. There are three ways in which travel is linked to the spread of disease: the disease first appears in an area that sees a lot of visitors; the behaviors of the tourists themselves may put them in danger; or the travelers themselves act as vectors to spread the agent to other places15,16. In the age of globalization, international travel has improved connectivity but it has also allowed the transmission of seeds of outbreak from one region to another7,8. This is further augmented by ecological factors, which typically precipitate emergence by bringing individuals into direct contact with a previously unknown but pre-existing natural reservoir or host for an infection (often a zoonotic or arthropod-borne infection), either by increasing proximity or, more frequently, by changing situations to support an increasing growth of the microbe or its natural host17. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and its long-lasting impacts have made us realize the importance of preventive measures and pandemic preparedness as well as emphasizing the importance of restrictions on international travel either partial or full bans on flights, and adopting adequate mitigation measures during travel7–9. International travel is increasingly becoming more regulated. However, political, economical, and emotional factors hinder timely action. It has been laid out in a catena of research that travel restrictions must be implemented quickly to postpone the peak of a future outbreak7. A stronger and more portable diagnostic framework can prevent emerging viral infections from becoming pandemics or epidemics by aiding in early diagnosis and treatment. Diagnostic criteria can include point-of-care (POC) testing and the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare systems. However, the gold standard for diagnostic methods remains reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for many emerging infections. POC molecular diagnostics significantly aid testing expansion, offer a portable, cost-effective solution, and eliminate the over-reliance on centralized laboratories18. POC can also measure different entities (viruses, antigens, and antibodies) that can contribute to the precise determination of an individual's health status. Early and accurate testing can decide a patient's clinical course and aid in management. However, a major challenge to this approach is the development and scaling of reliable methods for emerging infections for molecular detection and serologic assays in a timely fashion. AI can be used during outbreaks of emerging viral infections by detecting the transmission or predicting high-risk patients to help develop appropriate infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. AI can improve diagnostics by providing objective pattern recognition, standardizing the diagnosis of infections with IPC implications, and disseminating expertise in IPC19. The essence of the prevention of emerging viral infections is vaccines, and advances in science and technology have paved the ways for designing and developing effective, improved, and modern vaccines, including recombinant vaccines, vector-based vaccines, DNA vaccines, plant-based vaccines, CRISPR- and artificial intelligence-based vaccines, and others. We have seen repurposed vaccines having great success against certain emerging viruses, but had we been better prepared, we could have saved more people from mortality and morbidity caused by COVID-19. Furthermore, we need to refine the prophylactic and empirical treatment options. Most direct-acting antivirals take a 'one drug, one bug' approach by inhibiting proteins encoded by a single virus and end up being expensive yet inefficient against emerging infections. A possible cost-efficient solution in this domain is to target the host cell machinery or enzymatic functions shared by multiple viruses (broad-spectrum antivirals)20. Different interventions fall under the umbrella of 'travel-related control measures', including the complete closure of national borders to entry or exit, or both; travel restrictions reducing or stopping cross-border travel (e.g. denial of entry or exit based on nationality, travel history, health status, or other characteristics; suspension of travel via air, land, and sea); symptom/exposure-based screening at borders; test-based screening at borders; quarantine of travelers; wearing of face masks, and so on9,21,22. Taking precautions against the spread of infectious diseases through travel is a well-established method in public health. The widespread use of quarantine in medieval port towns and other areas helped stop the spread of bubonic plague. Recent epidemics have seen the implementation of similar procedures, such as airport exit screening and entry screening at national borders during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak in 2019–2022, and airport exit screening during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2014–201622. Considering that international travel plays a major role in the spread of emerging infectious pathogens, the authorities have imposed respiratory and hand hygiene for all travelers, but these interventions are not enough at a public health level. The travel regulations and restrictions form an immediate administrative need and have seen significant developments after COVID-19, laying the groundwork to manage future outbreaks too. Major citable examples are the 'travel bubbles' and 'vaccine passports'. A travel bubble is an arrangement, where bilateral air travel between two economically dependent countries is carried out given the testing protocols are maintained8. Another legislative tool is the 'vaccine passport'. These documents or certificates allow the authorities to ensure that all travelers are vaccinated23. In general, the timely imposition of appropriate restrictions on international travel could help prevent the spread of infectious diseases from one country to another. If the quarantine time is long enough and compliance is high, it should be possible to prevent the spread of the disease through tourists. Combining quarantine with PCR and POC diagnostic testing at borders is anticipated to increase efficiency. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of public health measures can vary widely depending on a variety of variables, including the prevalence of the disease in the community, the number of people who travel, the distance they travel, the types of public health measures already in place, and when they are implemented21,22. Better reporting, a variety of research approaches beyond modeling, and a societal assessment of the possible benefits and hazards of travel-related control measures are all necessary for future research. To save the world from the impacts of recently emerging multiple Omicron subvariants posing the feasibility of a new wave of COVID-19 pandemics, and other future pandemics, we recommend well-planned country-specific legislative policies for imposing time-to-time restrictions on international travel, enhancing more collaborative research for developing broad-spectrum antivirals and effective and newer vaccines, and strengthening preplanned structures for vaccine repurposing. Mitigation of the spread of Omicron subvariants warrants an integrated and collaborative IPC approach that combines masking, physical distancing, improving ventilation, increased testing, vigilance, tracking, isolation, quarantine, and awareness to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic in an effective way. Ethical approval The authors declare no involvement of animal studies or human participants in the study as it is a compiled letter article. Sources of funding None. Author contribution O.K., Y.S., N.K., and I.P.: designed the study. Y.S., H.C., and D.C.: made the first draft. Y.S., K.D., C.C., A.I., and N.K.: updated the manuscript. Y.S. and K.D.: reviewed the final draft. All authors have critically reviewed and approved the final draft and are responsible for the content and similarity index of the manuscript. Conflicts of interest disclosure The authors declare that they have no financial conflict of interest with regard to the content of this report. Research registration unique identifying number (UIN) None. Guarantor Md. Aminul Islam, COVID-19 Diagnostic Lab, Department of Microbiology, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh. Data statement Data not available/not applicable.

Global control of health-care associated infections

The prevention and control of public infectious diseases is a significant issue in the global health sector. Controlling infectious diseases is crucial for maintaining public health. As the most populous country in the world, China still faces a series of new challenges in the control of public infectious diseases. Therefore, it is of great significance to conduct an in-depth analysis of the trends in the control of public infectious diseases. This study selects the death rate, incidence rate, proportion of prevention and control funds input, and the proportion of professional technical personnel in China from 2018 to 2023 as research samples and conducts statistical analysis through multiple linear regression. Overall, factors such as the incidence rate, proportion of prevention and control funds input, and proportion of professional technical personnel can explain 98.7% of the trend changes in the infectious disease death rate. Through multiple regression analysis, the regression coefficient value of 0.001 for the incidence rate indicates a significant positive impact on the mortality rate, meaning that an increase in the incidence of infectious diseases leads to a rise in mortality. The regression coefficient value of -0.012 for the proportion of funding input suggests a significant negative impact on the mortality rate, implying that increased investment in prevention and control funds will correspondingly reduce the mortality rate of infectious diseases. On the other hand, merely increasing the number of professional and technical personnel is not sufficient to control the spread of infectious diseases; comprehensive use of various prevention and control measures is required for effective public infectious disease control. Public infectious disease prevention and control is a complex process that requires the consideration of multiple factors, rather than merely changing a single factor, particularly in controlling incidence rates and reasonably allocating funds. By refining the analysis of infectious disease control strategies and integrating diverse preventive and intervention measures, it is possible to better control the spread and mortality of infectious diseases, thereby protecting public health and safety.

Hospital infection prevention and control: A global perspective

Perceptions of capacity for infectious disease control and prevention to meet the challenges of dengue fever in the face of climate change: A survey among CDC staff in Guangdong Province, China

Ebola and compliance with infection prevention measures in Nigeria

This research explored the role of air travel in the spread of infectious diseases, specifically severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H1N1, Ebola, and pneumonic plague. Air travel provides the means for such diseases to spread internationally at extraordinary rates because infected passengers jump from coast to coast and continent to continent within hours. Outbreaks of diseases that spread from person to person test the effectiveness of current public health responses. This research used a mixed methods approach, including use of the Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler, to model the spread of diseases, evaluate the impact of air travel on disease spread, and analyze the effectiveness of different public health strategies and travel policies. Modeling showed that the spread of Ebola and pneumonic plague is minimal and should not be a major air travel concern if an individual becomes infected. H1N1 and SARS have higher infection rates and air travel will facilitate the spread of disease nationally and internationally. To contain the spread of infectious diseases, aviation and public health authorities should establish tailored preventive measures at airports, capture contact information for ticketed passengers, expand the definition of “close contact,” and conduct widespread educational programs. The measures will put in place a foundation for containing the spread of infectious diseases via air travel and minimize the panic and economic consequences that may occur during an outbreak.