Potential Health Emergencies Research Articles

The Mpox outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern: Implications for mental health and global preparedness.

The Mpox, a zoonotic viral disease that has historically affected Central and West Africa, has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. Rapid transmission and recent dissemination in Africa may imply significant challenges to global health, including mental health. We reviewed the mental health implications of the Mpox outbreak according to the published literature. We also discussed the psychological effects of the global spreading of this infection and public health preparedness strategies. Key areas of intervention may include the epidemiological surveillance, vaccine development, and mental health strategies. The Mpox outbreak calls for a robust global preparedness to address potential health emergencies. Strengthening epidemiological surveillance, ensuring equitable vaccine distribution, and building resilient public health infrastructure are crucial. Additionally, addressing mental health consequences may require immediate, intermediate, and long-term strategies, including telepsychiatry, stress management training, and the integration of mental health into primary care.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on potential health emergencies in paediatric patients: a retrospective cohort study.

The COVID-19 pandemic compromised the principles underlying the functioning of public health, which is understood as the prevention of diseases and care for the health of entire communities. During the pandemic period, the efforts of the health system focused on patients with suspected infection and those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which led to changes in the provision of health services and the characteristics of patients receiving medical services at the pre-hospital stage. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on potential health emergencies in paediatric patients based on the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The data used in the study were derived from interventions carried out by Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) in central and eastern Poland, involving patients who were under 18 years of age (n = 12,619). The data were collected from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2022. The study used descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney U Test, and the Chi-square test. The study reveals that fewer paediatric patients (5.28%) were provided medical services by EMTs during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period (5.86%). There was a decrease in the number of injuries in paediatric patients (from 42.0 to 32.7%; p < 0.001), and more patients were left at the location from which the call was made (18.9 vs. 23.9%; p < 0.001). Moreover, during the pandemic, as compared to the pre-pandemic period, there was an increase in the number of cases of pre-hospital assistance provided to paediatric patients with fever, irrespective of gender, area (village, city) or patient age. During the pandemic, paediatric patients consumed alcohol more frequently. The age of patients who were provided with assistance by EMTs decreased (median of 10.0 vs. 9.0; p < 0.001). The COVID-19 pandemic brought about changes in the prevalence of potential health emergencies in children. The incidence of injuries decreased, while the number of interventions due to fever and alcohol consumption increased. There was a reduction in the number of patients transported to the hospital. In addition, the age of patients who received medical assistance decreased. The study shows health problems that were faced by paediatric patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and, therefore, can be helpful in preparing the healthcare system for emergency situations.

Asymptomatic canine vector-borne diseases and diagnostic performance: Comparison between blood smears vs. conventional PCR

Across the globe, vector-borne diseases (VBD) are causes of health and economic concern, particularly for companion animals such as dogs and cats. The common clinical presentation ranges from subclinical to acute infection even a proportion with symptomatic manifestation. The diagnosis of asymptomatic animals with VBDs is quite challenging since veterinary practitioners do rely on presenting clinical signs to inform the choice of diagnostic plan. In Malaysia, blood smears (thin and thick) are employed in the diagnosis of VBDs such as babesiosis, anaplasmosis, theileriosis and trypanosomiasis. This method is readily available and inexpensive; however, the sensitivity and specificity are low as the diagnosis is strongly dependent on the experience of the examiner. Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on the other hand is used in larger veterinary clinics and hospitals in Malaysia and is only utilised when there is a suspicion of VBDs. This study attempts to compare the thin blood smear method and conventional PCR in the diagnosis of of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, A. platys, Babesia canis, B. gibsoni, Ehrlichia canis in dogs in Malaysia. Thirty clinically healthy dogs (17 males and 13 females) averaging 2 years of age were randomly selected from clinic walk-ins to screen for VBDs with both blood smear and conventional PCR. In general, the conventional PCR was 2.5 times more sensitive and specific than the blood smear in the detection of VBDs including Babesia canis, Babesia gibsoni and Ehrlichia canis in the asymptomatic sampled dogs. The detection rate for blood smears was 20% (6/30) in comparison with 50% (15/30). Therefore, it is imperative to conduct screenings for VBDs in dogs, even when they present as asymptomatic, in order to avert the oversight of potential health emergencies. Conventional PCR emerges as the recommended methodology for screening asymptomatic dogs for VBDs.

Reduced Incidence of Long Coronavirus Disease Referrals to the Cambridge University Teaching Hospital Long Coronavirus Disease Clinic.

Long COVID (LC) constitutes a potential health emergency as millions of SARS-CoV-2 infections lead to chronic symptoms. We must understand whether vaccines reduce LC as this has major implications for health policy. We report a 79% reduction in LC referrals correlating with reinfections and vaccination in the UK.

The level of risk, effects response to potential health emergencies, prevention and control method of COVID-19: A systematic review.

COVID-19 is currently the major public health burden in the world, with disease and death in the global community from COVID-19 increasing rapidly from time to time worldwide. However, there has been a lack of well-organized information about the level of risk, effects, prevention and control methods of the disease. Therefore the aim of this study is to identify and review a published level of risk, effects response to potential health emergencies, prevention, and control methods of COVID-19 at a global level. A systematic review was performed after literatures were identified by searching the following online databases: medRxiv, Google scholar, PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library with supplementary hand searching of conferences. The online databases contain archives of most English biomedical journals. Scientific papers published online by the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization were also included for this analysis. The scientific publications from 01 December, 2019 to 13 April 2020 were included. The 'COVID-19', '2019 novel coronavirus', '2019-nCoV', 'novel coronavirus', and 'Pneumonia' key search terms were used for this review.

Health security capacities in the context of COVID-19 outbreak: an analysis of International Health Regulations annual report data from 182 countries

SummaryBackgroundPublic health measures to prevent, detect, and respond to events are essential to control public health risks, including infectious disease outbreaks, as highlighted in the International Health Regulations (IHR). In light of the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we aimed to review existing health security capacities against public health risks and events.MethodsWe used 18 indicators from the IHR State Party Annual Reporting (SPAR) tool and associated data from national SPAR reports to develop five indices: (1) prevent, (2) detect, (3) respond, (4) enabling function, and (5) operational readiness. We used SPAR 2018 data for all of the indicators and categorised countries into five levels across the indices, in which level 1 indicated the lowest level of national capacity and level 5 the highest. We also analysed data at the regional level (using the six geographical WHO regions).FindingsOf 182 countries, 52 (28%) had prevent capacities at levels 1 or 2, and 60 (33%) had response capacities at levels 1 or 2. 81 (45%) countries had prevent capacities and 78 (43%) had response capacities at levels 4 or 5, indicating that these countries were operationally ready. 138 (76%) countries scored more highly in the detect index than in the other indices. 44 (24%) countries did not have an effective enabling function for public health risks and events, including infectious disease outbreaks (7 [4%] at level 1 and 37 [20%] at level 2). 102 (56%) countries had level 4 or level 5 enabling function capacities in place. 32 (18%) countries had low readiness (2 [1%] at level 1 and 30 [17%] at level 2), and 104 (57%) countries were operationally ready to prevent, detect, and control an outbreak of a novel infectious disease (66 [36%] at level 4 and 38 [21%] at level 5).InterpretationCountries vary widely in terms of their capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks. Half of all countries analysed have strong operational readiness capacities in place, which suggests that an effective response to potential health emergencies could be enabled, including to COVID-19. Findings from local risk assessments are needed to fully understand national readiness capacities in relation to COVID-19. Capacity building and collaboration between countries are needed to strengthen global readiness for outbreak control.FundingNone.

An early warning system based on syndromic surveillance to detect potential health emergencies among migrants: results of a two-year experience in Italy.

Profound geopolitical changes have impacted the southern and eastern Mediterranean since 2010 and defined a context of instability that is still affecting several countries today. Insecurity combined with the reduction of border controls has led to major population movements in the region and to migration surges from affected countries to southern Europe, especially to Italy. To respond to the humanitarian emergency triggered by this migration surge, Italy implemented a syndromic surveillance system in order to rapidly detect potential public health emergencies in immigrant reception centres. This system was discontinued after two years. This paper presents the results of this experience detailing its strengths and weaknesses in order to document the applicability and usefulness of syndromic surveillance in this specific context.

Enhanced Syndromic Surveillance for the Fourth Japan-China-South Korea Trilateral Summit 2011

Background: When high profile events such as mass gatherings or political events are held, syndromic surveillances are enhanced to quickly detect health emergencies. Drawing on past experiences, enhanced surveillance was conducted during the Fourth Japan-China-South Korea Trilateral Summit (May 21-22, 2011). This report describes the details and results of the enhanced syndromic surveillance. Methods: Enhanced surveillance started on May 18, and ended on June 4, two weeks after the meeting, using three existing surveillance systems that operate routinely: Official Syndromic Surveillance, Ambulance Transfer Syndromic Surveillance, and Pharmacy Surveillance. The enhanced surveillance was a joint work between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases. Information from the three surveillance systems was mutually exchanged and daily risk assessment on potential health emergencies such as bioterrorism and potential epidemics of infectious diseases was performed jointly. Results: During the enhanced surveillance period, the only case that required verification was one suspected measles case from the report in the Official Syndromic Surveillance. None of the cases in the Ambulance Transfer Syndromic Surveillance or the Pharmacy Surveillance required additional investigation. All three syndromic surveillance systems that were utilized for the enhanced surveillance are run routinely, and the enhancement areas were simply conducting the daily risk assessment and reporting. Therefore, the enhanced surveillance is conducted only by agreements and arrangements among members. In spite of very short notice, we were able to initiate the enhanced surveillance because the existing surveillance required no baseline or other preparation. The burden of implementation of surveillance was significantly small in comparison with the previous enhanced surveillance. Conclusions: It is possible to activate the enhanced surveillance arrangements whenever needed. We were able to make a comprehensive assessment by utilizing three syndromic surveillance systems, which we believe are useful in detecting a possible case of bioterrorism.

Costs and efficacy of public health interventions to reduce aflatoxin-induced human disease

This study reviews available information on the economics and efficacy of aflatoxin risk-reduction interventions, and it provides an approach for analysis of the cost-effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce aflatoxin-induced human disease. Many strategies have been developed to reduce aflatoxin or its adverse effects in the body. However, a question that has been under-addressed is how likely these strategies will be adopted in the countries that need them most to improve public health. This study evaluates two aspects crucial to the adoption of new technologies and methods: the costs and the efficacy of different strategies. First, different aflatoxin risk-reduction strategies are described and categorized into pre-harvest, post-harvest, dietary, and clinical settings. Relevant data on the costs and efficacy of each strategy, in reducing either aflatoxin in food or its metabolites in the body are then compiled and discussed. In addition, we describe which crops are affected by each intervention, who is likely to pay for the control strategy, and who is likely to benefit. A framework is described for how to evaluate cost-effectiveness of strategies according to World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Finally, it is discussed which strategies are likely to be cost-effective and helpful under different conditions worldwide of regulations, local produce and soil ecology, and potential health emergencies.