Prevalence Of Other Infections Research Articles

Estimates of the incidence, prevalence, and factors associated with common sexually transmitted infections among Lebanese women.

We analyzed the prevalence of active infection with common curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including N. gonorrhea, C. trachomatis, T. vaginalis, and T. pallidum, as well as active infection with HPV, herpes simplex virus types I (HSV-1) and II (HSV-2), M. hominis, M. genitalium, C. albicans, and Ureaplasma in 351 Lebanese women. A cross-sectional study, involving 351 sexually active women, 40 years or younger, who were recruited from outpatient Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic attendees between September 2016 and November 2017. The prevalence of active infection was low at 0.3% for N. gonorrhea, 0.6% for HSV-2, 2.8% for C. trachomatis, and 2.9% for any curable STIs. Prevalence of active HPV infection was high assessed at 15.7% for high-risk and 12.2% for low-risk genotypes. Furthermore, the prevalence was 2.0% for M. genitalium, 6.8% for ureaplasma, 13.7% for Candida albicans, and 20.5% for M. hominis. No active infections with T. vaginalis, T. pallidum, or HSV-1 were observed. Significant age differences were noted in the prevalence of high-risk and low-risk HPV genotypes, but no such differences were noted in the prevalence of other infections. No appreciable variations were identified in the prevalence of key STIs based on smoking, marital status, or the number of sexual partners. The study documented active infection with substantial prevalence for multiple STIs among women attending outpatient gynecology and obstetrics clinics in Lebanon. These findings underscore the importance of strengthening STI surveillance, linkage to care, and prevention interventions in reducing STI incidence among women.

Estimation of SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Central North Carolina: Accounting for Outcome Misclassification in Complex Sample Designs.

Population-based seroprevalence studies are crucial to understand community transmission of COVID-19 and guide responses to the pandemic. Seroprevalence is typically measured from diagnostic tests with imperfect sensitivity and specificity. Failing to account for measurement error can lead to biased estimates of seroprevalence. Methods to adjust seroprevalence estimates for the sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic test have largely focused on estimation in the context of convenience sampling. Many existing methods are inappropriate when data are collected using a complex sample design. We present methods for seroprevalence point estimation and confidence interval construction that account for imperfect test performance for use with complex sample data. We apply these methods to data from the Chatham County COVID-19 Cohort (C4), a longitudinal seroprevalence study conducted in central North Carolina. Using simulations, we evaluate bias and confidence interval coverage for the proposed estimator compared with a standard estimator under a stratified, three-stage cluster sample design. We obtained estimates of seroprevalence and corresponding confidence intervals for the C4 study. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence increased rapidly from 10.4% in January to 95.6% in July 2021 in Chatham County, North Carolina. In simulation, the proposed estimator demonstrates desirable confidence interval coverage and minimal bias under a wide range of scenarios. We propose a straightforward method for producing valid estimates and confidence intervals when data are based on a complex sample design. The method can be applied to estimate the prevalence of other infections when estimates of test sensitivity and specificity are available.

Wastewater Surveillance for Communicable Diseases


 This Horizon Scan summarizes the available information regarding wastewater epidemiology, or wastewater surveillance, for the detection of pathogens that cause communicable diseases.
 Wastewater surveillance can detect the presence of pathogens or chemical substances within the wastewater system and allows for the monitoring of a broad population with a single sample.
 Wastewater surveillance has been used for decades but has become more common since it was implemented around the world for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19. In Canada, wastewater surveillance is currently used for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus.
 Studies conducted in Canada and internationally indicate that wastewater surveillance can be used as a reliable method for detecting pathogens at the population level.
 Future uses of wastewater surveillance may include monitoring of antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, detection of cancers in the population, or assessing the prevalence of other infections within communities.

Possible explanations for why some countries were harder hit by the pandemic influenza virus in 2009 \u2013 a global mortality impact modeling study

BackgroundA global pandemic mortality study found prominent regional mortality variations in 2009 for Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. Our study attempts to identify factors that explain why the pandemic mortality burden was high in some countries and low in others.MethodsAs a starting point, we identified possible risk factors worth investigating for Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 mortality through a targeted literature search. We then used a modeling procedure (data simulations and regression models) to identify factors that could explain differences in respiratory mortality due to Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09. We ran sixteen models to produce robust results and draw conclusions. In order to assess the role of each factor in explaining differences in excess pandemic mortality, we calculated the reduction in between country variance, which can be viewed as an effect-size for each factor.ResultsThe literature search identified 124 publications and 48 possible risk factors, of which we were able to identify 27 factors with appropriate global datasets. The modelling procedure indicated that age structure (explaining 40% of the mean between country variance), latitude (8%), influenza A and B viruses circulating during the pandemic (3–8%), influenza A and B viruses circulating during the preceding influenza season (2–6%), air pollution (pm10; 4%) and the prevalence of other infections (HIV and TB) (4–6%) were factors that explained differences in mortality around the world. Healthcare expenditure, levels of obesity, the distribution of antivirals, and air travel did not explain global pandemic mortality differences.ConclusionsOur study found that countries with a large proportion of young persons had higher pandemic mortality rates in 2009. The co-circulation of influenza viruses during the pandemic and the circulation of influenza viruses during the preceding season were also associated with pandemic mortality rates. We found that real time assessments of 2009 pandemic mortality risk factors (e.g. obesity) probably led to a number of false positive findings.

Staphylococcal pneumonia; a review of 21 cases in adults.

IN the past few years there has been an unusually high incidence of pneumonia due to the staphylococcus (Micrococcus pyogenes) in infants and children.1 2 3 4 5 Coincident with this has been a striking increase in the prevalence of other infections due to this micro-organism.6 7 8 9 10 11 Studies by various workers have established the fact that these infections sometimes develop in the hospital environment, being transmitted by patients or by healthy carriers.1 , 6 7 8 9 10 11 In the present study we have analyzed the data on 21 adults with staphylococcal pneumonia in hopes of throwing some light on this relatively rare condition and thus of aiding in its recognition . . .